Peur Moi: Fear Me
by ArcherofDarkness and Callie
Summary: Annie DuVale, regular high school graduate, is recruited by Vlad Masters for his intern program, but what's his real purpose for having them all there? Post DP
1. The Interview

Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Annie…but there might be more OC's in the later chapters.

* * *

Sadly, the eighteen year-old girl watched as the credits to her favorite show rolled onto the screen, they were followed by an announcement that sent millions of kids across the nation into shock. 

"Don't miss the final episode, the conclusion of the Danny Phantom series. Friday at nine…" Annie read off the screen, her face dropping into a frown. "So they finally finished it up." There had been rumors that the five-year-running series was going off the air soon, but she had always considered them to be false.

The girl turned off the TV and headed down the hall to her room and got online to check her mail. Annie deleted her Spam and started surfing the web, accessing a few chat rooms, including a French one to brush up for the upcoming Community College class.

**IkldPrrpldnsr: **Salut, Je suis Americanne, travaile sur moi frainçaise. (Hi, I'm from America, working on my French.)

**BéteChien:** Salut, Je m'appelle Jacques. Je suis Français (Hi, I'm Jack. I'm French)

**Plasmidhntr: **Bonjour enfant. (Hello Child)

**IkldPrrpldnsr: **Hein! Je ne suis pas une enfant! J'ai dix-huit! (Hey! I'm not a child! I'm eighteen!)

**Plasmidhntr: **Pardon et moi _Sarcasme intentionnel_ (Excuse me _sarcasm intended)_

**IkldPrrpldnsr: **Vous etes trés agaçant! (You are very annoying.)

**Plasmidhntr: **Peur moi, enfant. (Fear me, child.)

**Plasmidhntr:** -abbatre éteint á 5:56 p.m.- (logged off at 5:56 p.m.)

Annie raised an eyebrow at the strange post and logged off, she had to remember never to give her name out to the weirdoes who submersed themselves in chat rooms. With a sigh, she slid off her wooden chair onto the floor and stared at the ceiling with a bored, lethargic expression.

"Life is dull, and they're pulling the plug on Danny Phantom," she whispered to herself, then reached one hand up to the sky, reaching towards the white fan with no hopes of touching it. "Of course it kind of figures, the show started in the high school, but then they graduated and will divide go to college. At least they told us and didn't just cut it from the air without warning."

Her hand gripped the still air and she brought it back down to her side with a flourish; Annie might not have seemed like much, but beneath her blank outside, she was bursting with energy. Thoughts ran through her mind and were dismissed or considered in seconds, she would sometimes pull a few through to her consciousness and debate the answer between herself. Today the subject was: are ghosts real?

One side pulled to a definite yes and the other remained undecided. 'If ghosts exist, why haven't I seen one?'

'Because my life is boring a dull and the chances of me actually doing anything exciting is at about a zero.'

'Yes, but what about how they can go through anything and still have shape, form, and thought?'

Annie's first side seemed to squirm, making her right hand twitch slightly, 'Because they're ghosts! Untapped sources of energy and created spontaneously when a person dies with unspent mental energy.'

'What about Danny Phantom…how is he half a ghost?'

'Oh come on, everyone knows there's no such thing as a halfa.'

With those thoughts dealt with, Annie stowed away the conversation and began to meditate, bringing the flow of thoughts to an abrupt halt as she chased away all ideas from her mind.

But there was still one.

'The annoying French guy…calm…peace…tranquility…what a nerve! Calm…peace…tranquility…and I thought that I had a sarcastic mouth! Calm…peace …tranquility.' As another unwelcome thought bounced up, Annie realized that to meditate right now was nearly impossible, and she opened her eyes to see a very strange thing on her computer.

Her original Danny Phantom desktop background had been replaced with a Vlad Plasmius one. Annie raised an eyebrow and another strange thought came to her mind. What if that **Plasmidhntr** had been…no, that was impossible. He was a cartoon character, that French guy had probably been someone who also liked her favorite TV show.

As the shouted words of "DINNER," floated out to her room, Annie clicked yet again on her computer to see if she had any more e-mail. She groaned as thirty messages appeared on the screen, closed the program, and headed back to the dining room.

Now that her stomach was partially filled with spaghetti and spinach, Annie felt ready to conquer the thirty entries of mindless spam. She cracked her neck and back and deleted message after message, finding only one addressed to her. The sender was listed as a "Silver Genius."

She opened the message and read it:

_Bonjour enfant._

_Immédiatement, si vous allez un IQ plus que le singe sa, vous allez comprendre qui ce être. Je trouve il amusant que vous etes coulant en français, je pouvois utilisation une trise. Puisque c'est, je préférerais aime être goût plus sur vous devant je offrai vous un emploi, quel vouloir inclure acceptation á la __université de ton choicons et voyage occasion._

_Répondrez s'il vous plaît á cette adresse:_ (the A symbol isnt working) 

She scanned over the message again, translating it in her mind to English:

_Hello child._

_Right now, if you have an IQ more than that of a monkey, you have realized who this is. I find it amusing that you are fluent in French, and I could use a translator. As it is, I would like to know more about you before offering you a job, which would include benefits like acceptance to a university of your choice and travel opportunities._

_Please reply to this address:_

"This could be a good opportunity," Annie's mind whispered at the same time her other half told her she just wasn't ready. She left the message open and left her room for the outdoors to jog.

* * *

When she returned, sweaty and panting, the message was still up and she typed a brief response, which translated, would come to the English equivalent of:

_Silver Genius,_

_I am interested in your offer, but I would like much more information about it before taking. Where would this be located? What kind of things would you need me to translate, etc._

_Sincerely yours,_

_Annie_

She debated for a while as whether to actually type her name at the bottom, but figured that hers was such a common name that he wouldn't be able to figure out much more about her with that small piece of information. Annie read over the note once again before sending it out into the vast Internet.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Annie learned a lot about her would-be future employer; his name was Vlad Silvers, he lived in Quebec, Canada, and was interested in getting a translator for his trade business. Although she hadn't planned on going into a language field, the girl had to admit to herself that this was a golden opportunity.

As Vlad pressed her more and more for an acceptance, she also got much more nervous. Why didn't he just hire a qualified translator, someone with experience? And yet she wanted to travel, to get out and see the world and finally go to the college of her choice.

And so, three weeks past the finale of Danny Phantom, Annie typed an e-mail saying that she would accept his job, and went to bed, still unsure that she had made the right choice.

The next morning, Annie woke in her same bed; in the same covers she had had since ninth grade, and flipped on her bedside light. Her computer was still on, and she quickly answered her e-mail to find a message from Vlad Silvers. It's English equivalent was:

_Annie,_

_Thank you for accepting my offer, at the bottom of this screen, you will see a small green box, please press your right index finger on it and say "Portal."_

Surprised by the short letter and instructions, Annie let out a growl, which was partially induced by the lack of caffeine. She scrolled down to the bottom and saw a small box, a square of green about one inch tall.

Annie rolled her eyes and lifted up her right pointer finger to the screen, then, in a doubtful voice, muttered, "Portal." She jumped as a small shock bit at her finger and tried to pull away, but found she could not. Then, slowly, her finger began to disappear into the computer; as she began to lose the sensation in her finger and hand, she reached back and braced herself against the computer table in an attempt to pull her finger out, but instead found she was only being sucked in at a faster rate.

The computer grew nearer to her head, and Annie let out a yelp just before the screen swallowed her. Now she could feel her arm, though it felt like a rubber band that had been stretched beyond its limit. Her whole body was now inside the computer and she felt like she was in a wind tunnel.

Then the sensations stopped, and the girl felt like she was being projected out of a closed waterslide; Annie saw light and was suddenly lying on a carpeted floor. Her head swam and she groaned.

"Well, look who's awake." Annie looked up and saw a rather handsome man sitting on a well-padded chair; his long silver hair was tied back into a ponytail, and he was dressed in a black suit. "It's nice to meet you…Annie."

"Vlad Silvers?"

"Why yes…though here, people tend to call me Vlad Masters."

Annie stood up, using a sturdy metal chair behind her for support, "How'd I get here?"

"The magic of the internet," he answered with a sly grin that madeher become immediately suspicious.

"And why are you speaking English?"

"Let me show you to your room, you'll be staying near the labs. I've made sure that you'll have everything that you would need," he walked away, and Annie stared at his retreating figure before following him down the long winding corridors.

'This must be some kind of mansion,' Annie thought, wondering why in the world someone would need this many rooms, at the same time she was very suspicious. Why would someone who could speak both French and English need a translator who spoke both of the same languages?

As the pair passed a large room, Annie stopped for a second to peer through the crack in the doorway and saw something she had only dreamed of. Something large and green and swirling, something she'd only seen projected from her television and in her dreams.

It was a Ghost Portal.

* * *

Please review people…the second chapter will be up early Thursday, Eastern Time. More will be explained then. As for the addresses, I dunno, something about them screwed up the document, so I left them out...K? 


	2. The Obscenities of DNA

Back again?

Annie shook her head as she sat down on her bed, her thoughts still rushing. Vlad Masters, a ghost portal, what next? A bunch of hyper cheerleaders were going to appear in her room?

"Hi! I'm Mandy!" The blonde poked her head in the room and gave a cheerful wave, "You're one of the new interns, right?"

"Uh…" Annie raised a brow at the young woman, "I guess, I was hired to translate for Vlad."

"Awesome! Actually…" Mandy glanced around and came into the room, "I was going to join the Navy to get to college, but since this guy promised me free college, I figured, why risk my neck? Ya know?"

By this point in time, Annie was becoming quite annoyed, she'd never gotten along well with cheerleaders, always too happy and bouncy. "So…what did he need you for, any skills?"

"Yeah! Actually, he said he needed a rock climber for his expeditions in Peru! I do it on the side…" Mandy sighed, "Well, it's about time for breakfast, hungry?"

"Sure…" Annie followed her acquaintance down several long corridors and stairways; they came to an enormous hall. There were about thirty seats and several other people just arriving to take their seats, and they all looked to be in their late teens or early twenties. At the head of the table sat Vlad Masters. He cleared his throat and the room's noise level dropped to complete silence.

"As you know," Vlad said as he unfolded a napkin, "We get one more intern everyday. Please welcome Annie to your numbers, I trust that you will teach her the rules and the layout of the house. Now eat up, and Annie, I will speak with you later…okay?"

"Yes sir," Annie whispered as she surveyed the rest of the people around her, though simply by listening to the names, she was quite interested. They all seemed to be "Sandy"s, "Andy"s, "Randy"s, "Brandy"s, there were also a couple "Lanny"s and "Manny"s, but not a single Danny.

Most of the buzzing conversation seemed to be about choice colleges, Yale and Harvard and so on, there were a couple centering about the other interns, gossip. And, Annie noticed, there were also a couple that seemed to be doing just what she was, observing and giving no comment.

She met the eyes of one of those silent observers and they exchanged stares, each trying to best the other and finally they both glanced to the right corridor branching from the hall. The other nodded and Annie looked away again, trying to finish her breakfast.

"I'm Annie."

"Ian…" it was at first hard to tell if the person was male or female, because of his long, red hair and short, slim stature. "Why are you here?"

"Same reason as you," Annie said, and motioned that they should walk. As their feet carried them down the corridor, Ian looked around, observing everything. "What job did you sign up for?"

"Bodyguard. I'm trained in four different martial arts and I'm a weapons master as well, but so far it seems Vlad doesn't need my services."

"Mine either, I guess he hired us all for our individuality. Every person here is good at something strange. Rock Climbers, bodyguards, translators. It doesn't fit."

"There's something strange about it…I'll agree. But it's probably nothing concerning life and death; therefore it's not an issue. I'll see you at lunch." And Ian left with that, turning into a low-lit room on the right and closing the door practically in her face.

"Okay…" Annie kept walking until she came to her own room, then she peered in and found a brand new wardrobe awaiting her. There was also a jumpsuit mixed in, probably for exercise, so she put that on and kept walking, in hopes of finding some kind of exercise room.

Annie soon came upon the same hallway that contained the portal, and turned towards the ghostly room, reassuring herself that she just wanted another look. The door was steel and heavy, but not locked. She saw the green swirls and gaped in awe, it was beautiful and terrifying.

No one had come to stop her so far, and Annie found herself staring at her jumpsuit. It had to be fate. A ghost portal and a Danny Phantom jumpsuit? She walked up to the mechanisms and began to turn the buttons and dials, turning the power down until a manual switch would be needed to get it back running.

There was a spark from the last remaining swirls of energy and the portal ceased to work. Annie gulped, there was no going back now, and besides, hadn't she always wanted a chance like this? She nervously stroked her short brown hair and stepped into the portal; it was practically a metal cave.

Now Annie's breath was coming fast, the manual switch seemed to pull her towards it. "Calm down. Just turn it on and…" she reached a trembling hand towards the switched and flicked it. Her eyes squeezed shut, but then, when nothing happened, she slowly opened them.

Then a large mass of green energy was flowing out of the end of the portal, and Annie turned towards the opening and tried to dive out, but the energy had caught her. She wanted to scream, but her throat had closed up in fear. A terrible pain seized her body as the ghostly energy quickly mutated her DNA.

In one final attempt, Annie threw herself out of the portal and lay on the floor, shivering on the hard stone until she fell asleep from exhaustion.

"Ohhhhh…" Annie woke up with a groan and rubbed her head, and then her memories came flooding back, the portal! She looked behind her and there it was, operating normally. She stood and got ready to open the heavy door and was shocked by what she saw in the shining metal.

It was a reflection of herself, but different as apples and oranges. Her hair was a deep aqua, her eyes, normally Hazel, had turned to a pure violet. Her pasty white skin was now tan, and the black and green jumpsuit had become silver and blue.

"I'm a halfa!" She whispered to her reflection, but there was no reason to ever use this form, except if necessary. Annie concentrated on her human form and gritted her eyes; when she opened them, everything looked normal. She checked her watch and found it to be nearly lunch.

With a grin, Annie opened the door and strutted down the hall.

What use does Vlad have for all the interns? And what about Danny?(Yes, he will be in the next chapter, no this is not a Danny/OC fic, it's Danny/Sam) Review please! Critisism accepted…Flames will be used to kill Kenny…YOU BASTARDS! BWAHA!


	3. Family Jewels and Secrets

Well…I'm glad that some ppl are at least reading and reviewing, so THANK YOU!

I am very sorry about the lateness of this chapter, School is starting, I just got back from vacationing, we've had ton of storms and had to shut down the computer, then we couldn't get it back on, then I couldnt upload this chapter because my computer sucks! ARGGGHH! I'm sorry Callie…Laney doesn't want us in the same class! WAHHHHHHHHH!

Callie, that was a good point to make, so I will make sure your questions are answered!

Now onto the story…we'll be switching perspectives to a new character to tell you "whatever happened to Danny Fenton?"

* * *

A tall, lanky teenage boy sat at a kitchen table, his black hair still mussed from his long night of sleeping, his lips pursed over a steaming cup of coffee. He looked up as his sister entered the dining room, her face was bright and cheery and her long, orange hair was already combed back into a ponytail.

"Morning Gramps!"

"Not this early Celeste…cant you see I'm tired?" The boy growled and frowned at his mocha reflection, "Not to mention I haven't had a good week and school starts soon."

"I know, I'm so excited!" she giggled and bounced up. Celeste had inherited her aunt's and grandmother's trademark red-orange hair, as well as their optimistic spirit that could never be put down. "I'll get to see all my friends again and I've got a whole new school and teachers and…!" she ran out of breath and shot her brother an excited grin, "Shouldn't you be just as excited?"

"No…" The older teen growled, "high school is fun. College is just a bunch of old professors telling you what to think and forcing you to wade through chest-deep mud to get the answers to your thesis."

"Oh, come on Jackie…you can't say that it's all bad. You get to live in a dorm, meet tons of new people, and learn lots of new stuff."

"Whatever," Jack muttered and took a long swallow of his coffee, already feeling the affects of the caffeine. He looked to the door as the two's father entered.

"Morning kids."

"Morning Dad."

Their father, Daniel Fenton, wore a weary smile and plopped down at the table next to his son, poured a cup of black coffee, and took a taste. He had rings under his eyes and there was a sharp, jagged scar running down his right cheek. "You kids ready for school?"

Celeste piped up with all of her thoughts on how great school was; her father watched with affection, but his eyes began to stare as he was reminded of his sister. Jack rolled his eyes and walked off, putting his empty cup into the dishwasher with a clink.

Jack walked outside into the dewy grass and early morning light to see his mother; she was sitting on a mat with her legs crossed in deep meditation, and he knew better than to disturb her in this sort of state. Gradually, she "woke up" and smiled at her eldest child.

"Well Jack…how are you this morning?"

"Fine mom, I just came in last night before I head back to school," he sighed and smiled at his mother. It seemed like she had always been there for him, even through the darkest nights and worst possible points. "I wanted to see how Celeste was doing and dad…how is he?"

Samantha sighed, then dropped her head to the ground, "I don't know…he hasn't changed since he was twenty-four. The exact same man I married."

Jack shook his head, hoping that the same fate wouldn't befall him; of course it could be good, having the eternal body of a twenty-year-old. "And what about Vlad?" He and Danny had had a battle over the summer, during which the other halfa had vowed to return and defeat his nemesis.

Sam glanced at her son, both of her children had inherited the ghost genes from Danny, both had become halfas after reaching puberty and their powers had progressed from there, developing as their bodies did. "We haven't seen him since."

The black-haired teen pulled something out of his pocket and showed it to his mother, "I graduated sixth in my class, so they gave me this badge…I want you to have it."

"Oh Jack, I'm so proud of you…I'm going to put this on your high school graduation picture!"

"Thanks…and if you have any more problems with Plasmius, give me a call. I'm gonna go say goodbye to Celeste and Dad, then go see Aunt Jazz." They shared and embrace, then Jack left for the kitchen yet again.

"Alright dad, thanks for letting me crash here for the week, and 'Leste, don't get in too much trouble this year. I'm going to see Aunt Jazz, okay? Then it's back to school for another boring semester." Jack gave his little sister hug and shook his father's hand, giving a sly wink and he caught another being flashed back to him.

"Bye!" he stepped out the door and walked around the house to his car and there was his dad yet again. "Celeste didn't catch you this time?"

Danny grinned, "Before Sam and I had you two, I was the hardest thing to catch besides a cheetah. What did you want to ask me?"

Jack lowered his head, "Well, I was wondering if you thought there was any remote possibility that…that my genes might mutate back and I could be normal and…" his father shook his head.

"We've got something special Jack…something that makes us different. It gives us the strength to go on even when we're faced with utter defeat. It's the fact that you're a Fenton, and Fentons, by nature, are an odd group. Now have fun at college and don't worry, you'll be fine!"

Jack smiled and got in his car, admitting that his father was right and gave one last smile before he pulled out of his driveway and went down the street to visit his aunt.


	4. Crazy Cat Master

Okay…big DP premiere tomorrow, personally, I think that the ultimate enemy is Danny from the future…wow, I seem to think that a lot, n'est pas? I'm eating a carrot, and it's not bad, not to mention it has tons of vitamins for your skin and sight and the whole body put together!

Big thanks to Missmellis4251 and Callie-chan!

* * *

Annie barely made it to the dining hall before Vlad Masters, she slid into her seat as was humanly possible and let out a muted sigh of relief; still, the thought, that this could be a different dimension where Plasmius was good, kept crossing her mind, but there was no doubt that this Vlad Masters was definitely _the_ Vlad Masters.

After the luncheon was over and the plates taken away by some happy bus-boys, the interns filed out, except for Annie, who had remembered something from that morning.

"You wanted to talk to me…Mr. Silvers?"

He shot me a grin with sparkling white teeth, "It's Masters, and you can call me Vlad! Yes, I did want to talk. I might have to pull a few strings to get you into the college where you want to go, any ideas?"

Her lip lifted slightly in an evil smile, "How does MIT sound for you?"

"Massachusetts Institute of Technology, toughest school in the country to get into?" Vlad sent an equally evil smile back, "I'll see what I can do. Now, Annie, we have a tight regiment here, I usually let you interns have a break when we get a new recruit, this morning there was no practice as you might have realized, but normally there is a schedule. It usually involves waking up around five o'clock am for a morning jog."

Annie smirked, "Not bad, I usually get up at four-thirty. But when will you need me to translate something? You speak English and all the e-mails I got were in French…"

He waved away the question, "I have a program that does that sort of thing for me, but no matter. You should have found a jumpsuit in your room…that's for the workouts."

Trying to keep the question from becoming a big deal, she stuck up an eyebrow and made a comment, "I didn't find one."

"That's odd, but it's happened before. Is there anything else you would like to know?"

"Yes," Annie bobbed her head slightly, "Do you have a cat?"

Vlad seemed to become angry for a second and recovered himself, "Why do you ask that?"

"I like cats."

"No…"

"Okay then, bye!" She turned and walked out the entrance. It was amusing how one simple, uncouth question could reveal a person's true identity. As Annie began to laugh, throwing back her head with amusement, she ran into another person.

"Watch where you're going!" he growled.

"Sorry dude, I'm-"

"Annie, yeah. We all know; you got here before breakfast." He glared at her with icy blue eyes, then shook his pale blonde hair out and finished pulling it back into a ponytail. "Now get the Hell away from me."

He shoved Annie aside and continued down the hall, muttering out: "Bitch," just loud enough to be heard.

"Wow, the king of politeness. Great."

* * *

Yes. I know, it's short, but I think I'll be doing more like this than before so you wont get pissed at me for such long breaks in between. 


	5. BEWARE!

WHOO! Ultimate Enemy gave me a great Idea for a fanfiction! Special thanks to MissMeliss…hope you enjoyed ur vacation!

* * *

With a sigh, Annie threw herself on her large bed, it was covered with large sheets and very comfortable, she almost fell asleep just by sitting on it. 

"Too bad I forgot my CD's, but at least I don't have all my Danny Phantom memorabilia." Annie sighed and turned over so that she faced the ceiling, "Gunna catch em all cuz he's Danny Phantom…hmmm. Annie Phantom? Nah…" At this point in time, she realized that she had been talking out loud and that the rooms could possibly be bugged.

_Spectre__-san?__ No, too Japanese…Alias? Copyrighted…hum…what else would work?_ Annie thought, and turned over to realize that on the small nightstand was a pad of paper and a pen, _Now…what about a…those things that Shakespeare used…? A pun, right? How about a homonymphorical name? Wait…is that a word?_

_Yeah, it's a word…I think…maybe 'Face-It", wow, no that sucks. Oh well, I'll work on my pseudonym later... _Annie sighed and picked up the paper and pen and started drawing, something that resembled Vlad Plasmius, then she gave the drawing some lipstick and laughed at the end result.

Setting down the pen and paper, Annie concentrated on her ghost powers; she lifted up her right hand and stared hard at it. _Be invisible…_but despite her wishes, it remained as visible as the rest of her body. She sighed and rested her head on her hands, leaned forwards a little too far, and fell over the side of the bed to land on the carpet.

"Oh carpe…" she picked herself up and then got a rather unnerving idea. If Danny Phantom had some words that helped him concentrate on his own ghost form, why shouldn't she have her own?

With another sigh, Annie took a wide stance and concentrated on what she remembered about her other ghost half, "Um…Ghost form…activate!"

At this time, a peculiar sensation seized her body, it was rather like when she used to play softball, and after a hard, hot day, would dump freezing cold water all over herself in an attempt to cool down. Looking down, Annie saw a ring of neon green sparks flowing over her body and leaving a new image in their wake.

The jumpsuit that Annie had used during the transformation had switched colours, from a black and green to silver and blue, but her hair was perhaps the strangest of all, it had turned into a aqua flame, whipping around her head like a frozen fire. Surprisingly enough, she felt completely fine, not too hot or too cold

"Okay…"Annie lifted her hand once more and then gritted her eyes shut, when she opened them again, her hand couldn't be seen, though she could feel it plain as day. "Wicked," she muttered and then leaned over to the bed and punched the hard mattress, expecting for her hand to become intangible and go right through.

Two seconds later she was clutching her hand and howling silently; she kicked out at the metal bedspring and was even more surprised when she was thrown off her feet by the surprise of her foot flying through it. "Note to self, don't even attempt to use this stuff before mastering it…"

"Ghost form…deactivate!" Annie said once more, and the sparks, starting at the ends of her hair, fingers, and toes, worked their way to her navel, leaving her ordinary clothes in their wake.

_Dang…going ghost takes a lot out of you!_ She flopped down on the bed and fell asleep.

* * *

_Ugh...my bed feels so weird…oh right!_ Annie stood and stretched, she had almost forgotten about the whole getting-transferred to another part of the country and/or universe. Her watch showed that the time was four-thirty, her biological clock had set the alarm. Seeing that she would have to be fully awake in half an hour, she decided to get up, do her push-ups, and get the blood moving.

When five o'clock rolled around, she was already sweating and it was at that time that a tall, dark-haired man opened her door unannounced and told her that breakfast would be at seven, and all the interns were expected to be outside their rooms in five minutes. Annie quickly got changed into the jumpsuit that he had given her and stood at the door.

She had just begun to hum a song when a long line of the interns jogged past, they were all chanting some words that were in a strange language that Annie didn't recognize; she fell into the back and kept up the pace. After a few minutes of running, she had just began to understand what they were saying. The head would ask: "_Pholant__ grek uniptsa ju tulantar?_" and the others would answer with: "_Ich__ petant tulantar enchay Levar Plasmius! Ent Ichy trany ung an derch vuwut!_"

It turned out that the guy leading us was the very same rude, pale-blonde that had knocked into her last night, but she shook that off and chanted the words along with the others, following a long trail that led out into the Canadian woods and to a strange gym in the middle of nowhere. That was when Ian took the front and began to put the interns through a vigorous assault of karate, testing their fighting skills against each other.

After the martial arts, the interns jogged back to the main lodging and ate.

_Don't fall…asleep…_Annie's whole body ached, and she had the feeling that they were going to be doing more work after the break, so she ate very little to avoid throwing up back in the gym, and stuck to a bowl of oatmeal and two mugs of coffee. _C'mon…what happens to Danny Phantom when he falls asleep? His head goes straight through a desk, or he phases through the floor, or his pants fall down…at least I wont have to worry about the latter…_ In fact, the jumpsuit was very tight, it was almost impossible to get it off even for a bathroom break.

Vlad Masters joined them again at breakfast, striking up polite, yet intrusive, conversations with the interns, and they answered in an effort to not be rude. When he finally left however, they were dragged off again for another jog to the gym and began training. This time it involved learning how to shoot a variety of guns and such, and that was when I really got to talk to Ian.

He was trying out a gun and muttering about it when I finally walked up to him.

"Hey Ian…bud…?"

"Not yet, trust is earned."

That kid is serious, of course how many other people do you know who are full-fledged assassins when they're barely out of high school. "Anyhoo Ian…ever watch the show Danny Phantom?"

"Once or twice…why?"

"Just wondering," she would have to be careful about this, "What episodes did you see anyways?"

He continued to spin tons of gadgets on the gun, "One about a dragon…and another that was a movie. Some ghost king trying to take over the ghost zone."

"Do you remember a character named Vlad Plasmius perchance?"

He looked up from the gun, "Yes…why?"

Annie considered her options, if she told him what she thought he probably wouldn't believe her, but if she let him figure it out for himself… "Oh, no reason, just wondering, it was a good series…ran for about four…five years. And do you think you could teach me how to throw people!"

Ian laughed, then set up the positions and gave a one-on-one lesson.

* * *

Okay, for everyone who's forgotten what a homonym is, it's two words that are spelled the same but mean different things, such as the word face, which means both to confront and the thing on the front of your skull where your nose sits…a pseudonym is basically a name that use as an alias, like Lemony Snicket or my Pseudonym, Archer of Darkness! 

Ciao!


	6. Running blind to the psychatrist

Hey ppl…sorry but I've been rather busy! Between karate, softball, running, and all my Algebra II HW, not to mention reading my English book for my book report! (Flops down) but hopefully I'll be in great shape before School Softball tryouts! So I'm going to try to update on Saturdays and Wednesdays…those are my least busy days…and mebeh even Mondays too, not this Monday though, it's the book sale at the library and I'm helping! WHOO! Books for a buck and less!

Special thanks to Callie, Missmellis, and Digidestined7 for reviewing!

* * *

"Hello?" Jack knocked against the door and pressed the doorbell once, it looked really dark inside and so far there had been no sound either. He pressed his nose against the glass and sighed, then phased through the door.

"Aunt Jazz?" He walked into the kitchen and saw a note resting on the countertop, it was addressed to him.

_Jack,_

_I'm so sorry about not being able to be here, I had to run out and check on one of my patients, if you're hungry there's some broccoli and cheese in the fridge. I'll be home hopefully around 5:30._

_-Jazz_

Jack sighed and his hair flew back in a light breath of air as the air conditioning started up. He walked around to the back door and let in the dog, a brown and white mutt. It panted at him and licked his hand, begging for some treats.

He sat down on a kitchen chair, rubbing the dog's head, it was going to be a while before his aunt got home, or even her husband for that matter. Persephone, the dog, jumped up and into his lap, where she gazed into Jack's eyes with a sorrowful look.

"I've missed you too girl," he crooned and massaged the dog's soft ears.

_About seven hours later…_

Jack had already put the dog out, and had a small meal of the broccoli; that was when the door finally creaked open and his Aunt Jazz waddled in, her belly large from the eighth month of her pregnancy.

"Jack! I'm so sorry, but…" Jazz cringed slightly as the baby kicked, "I had a problem with a patient and there was all this confusion at the ward and one of my patients nearly got turned out when he's not anywhere near the end of his treatment! But how are you?"

Jack shook his head at his mid-forty-year-old aunt, "You're just the same as I remember Aunt Jazz, but I just came by to say 'Au revoir' before I jet off to college again, new semester starting, you know…"

She gave him a doubtful look, "If that was all you really needed to say, why did you wait around for about eight hours?"

He couldn't hide anything from Jazz; Jack sighed and let his thoughts branch out, "It all started when I first got to my dorm last year…"

* * *

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!" Annie followed the instructions of Ian as he led them thorough the stretches, it was later in the day, probably around six o'clock, and they were almost finished for the day. It had been an entire day of grueling work and not to mention about a total of ten miles in a combination of jogging and sprints.

"Alright crew, good job!" Ian shouted to the panting interns, they all gave a simultaneous tired smile and then picked up their exhausted legs and started on their way from the large exercise room in the mansion to the dining hall, there, heaps of food sat steaming on enormous plates.

Annie dropped into a chair and sighed, barely finding enough energy to pick up her fork and a serving spoon to dish out the vegetables, meat, and soft wheat dinner rolls. Her head hurt from the fifty push-ups, five hundred crunches, and numerous amounts of cattas(Ju Jitsu combinations).

_Don't fall asleep…_her tired mind screamed, begging her to fill up with energy and wait until she had showered; it would certainly stink if Vladimir Plasmius found out about her borrowing his ghost portal for a day, there would be even worse results if he somehow became her ultimate enemy.

Somehow, Annie managed to stay awake through the dinner, even as others around her snoozed. She barely managed to keep her eyelids open and left the moment after Vlad had excused himself.

Like a wilted flower, Annie fell against her door and fumbled with the handle; she managed to open it after a minute and fell down on the floor just inside, where her eyelids drooped and she fell immediately into a deep slumber.

* * *

There was a relaxed feel in the air when Annie woke up, she checked her watch and found that it was already seven! "Oh shit…" she whispered under her breath and leapt up and out the door to see that it was entirely deserted. She picked up her feet and began to run up the corridor in the path she had traveled yesterday.

_I cant believe I overslept!_ Her mind whined as her body leapt up stairs by twos and landed on the top without any energy left in her body. Annie's father had told her about the aftermath of a marathon from his younger days, but she had always thought he had been joking, over exaggerating, or something in that vicinity. Never had she imagined that he had been modest in his description of the pain.

"ANNIE!" She ran straight into Mandy and the two girls collided and fell down the entire flight of stairs. The cheerleader groaned, "Well…doesn't that happen every time…yeah. But anyways, we forgot to tell you that every other day we have a light workout that helps to get the lactic acid out of your muscles, but that's at two and it only lasts for an hour."

"Oh…" Annie gave the other girl a tired smile, "And where's breakfast?"

"Same place, but they set the food out at six-thirty, so if you want some hot food, you'd better hurry up; the rest of the time is yours to do whatever."

Mandy smiled, letting a small sigh escape, then turned and climbed back up the stairs.

* * *

Again, I'm so sorry about the lateness of this but I'm SO FREAKIN BUSY! 


	7. Reynolds and Dorm life

Wow…my new chappies wont be nearly as long, but they'll be more frequent! Watch Surface on NBC and watch my friends be extras, cuz it's filmed in our hometown! It's funny seeing something shot near you! Wow, 3 reviews! Thanks you guys!

* * *

"It's alright Jack, now just go back and tell them that you're not going to be pushed around this year. Believe me, it works on people with that low of self-esteem." Jazz smiled at her nephew and patted him on the back. "I'm so proud that you got into Clemson, but remember, the social skills are half of the education."

Jack smiled up at his aunt and suddenly a strange feeling came to mind, "I guess next time I see you, there's going to be a new member of the household."

* * *

Annie chomped down on a fresh toasted bagel with honey smeared across the top, then turned her attention to a plate of fresh kiwi and pineapple; honestly, it was like being in heaven! The food was better than she'd ever imagined it could be, the fruit sweet and juicy, the vegetables crisp and succulent, and the breads were always soft and warm from having just come from the oven. That was when she first noticed Reynolds, he was tall and very effeminate, but he had extremely odd eyes.

"Hey…I'm Annie DuVale, and you-"

"I'm Andy…well, everyone calls me that but my real name is Reynolds…or just Rey." He ran one thin hand through very long, very black and straight hair.

"Cool…"Annie popped a grape into her mouth, it was a muscodine, but had a faint tinge of gold on the top from a fungus that made the fruits sweeter, "I didn't see you at the workout session yesterday, are you part of a different group or are we just divided by how long we've been here?"

"Different group," Reynolds muttered and plucked a red strawberry from the table, savoring the taste before spitting out the stem and leaves. "If Mr. Masters likes your style enough and you prove to be smarter than your average bear, he might let you join."

"So it's like a club?"

"A private club," he growled and cocked Annie an evil looking smile, "And it's fun as hell, I'd like to see a couple more people in it as well."

"And-" Annie choked and coughed, cutting off her words, waving away Reynolds concerned look with a hand. She would never tell him that the reason she had choked was the small stream of frozen breath coming from her mouth in a horrific reminder of her ghost powers.

_Is he a ghost!_ She studied him silently as she sipped a glass of water to help soothe the rawness that now ran all the way up her throat, _or is he a halfa…and is that what Vlad is up to?_

* * *

Super thanks again to Missmellis4521, linkmaste, and digidestined7, I told you guys I wouldn't have much time so you're lucky I found time for this, plz review and I might update faster and with more words! next chappie...experimentation of power!


	8. Flying cars and such

Special thanks to Missmeliss and Digidestined7!

* * *

Jack drummed on the car seat as he drove down the highway, keeping the beat to _Are you gonna be my Girl?_ He had to admit, Jet had a way with getting your feet moving. It was his second day back on the road, and he should be getting back to his room by midday.

The tempo dropped for a second in the song, then continued with renewed vigor, which sent Jack's head banging, his hair flew into his eyes and over green sunglasses, which were in fact a type of ghost sensor made by his grandfather.

He reached a traffic jam and groaned at having to drive past such a large city during rush hour. Jack sighed and gripped the wheel tightly, sending his ghostly powers into the car; first it turned invisible and then intangible. He pressed on the gas and sped directly through the jam.

_I know dad told me not to do it, but if I have to wait here, it's just a waste of gas…right?_ It was a strange feeling, being intangible that was; the people inside the cars would merely feel a breath of chilly wind and then go back to screaming at each other. Jack was nearly through the line of cars when he lost control of his powers and the car suddenly rematerialized right as it passed through an SUV.

Jack swore as his car fused right down to the atomic level with the other vehicle as it became tangible, the other driver slammed on his brakes and the two cars swerved off the road, into a ditch, and crashed into a tree.

_Okay…maybe dad was right about the car intangible stuff…_

* * *

When Annie returned to her room, she noticed that although everything was still the same, it seemed that someone had been inside and messed with it. She couldn't stop thinking about Reynolds and his strange eyes; with a sigh, she walked to the bathroom and stripped down to take a shower.

She stepped into the wide, mirrored stall and turned the water on; shaking out her hair from the sweaty ponytail she had thrown it into before running into Mandy. As the water reached a lukewarm temperature, Annie pulled the plunge on the side of the head and a stream of water began to shoot out.

As the now-steaming liquid ran down her back and shoulders, Annie gave a sigh of relief and pulled a washcloth from the bin next to the stall; she began to wash away the grime and sweat that stuck to every speck of skin. Once her body was clean, she pulled out the shampoo and lathered it in, then rinsed and revealed her clean, shining brown hair.

Annie reached over to the faucet and turned to pure cold water, enjoying the wakening sensation and shivers of delight that ran down her being. She shut off the flow very quickly and stepped out onto the tiled floor, wrapping a towel around her body as she did.

It was as she dried her hair that she noticed something very strange about her eyes, they had the same depth as Reynolds, the same eerie magnetism as his that pulled her closer to the mirror, the same odd glow, the same gold ring around her pupil as well. She dropped the towel and leaned closer to the mirror to examine her eyes and only stopped leaning when her forehead hit the reflective surface.

Annie shook off the feeling and dried and clothed herself yet again, then stood in the middle of her room and concentrated on her ghost form yet again.

"Ghost power…activate!" She said it not too loud but loud enough, immediately a shiver ran down her body, visibly seen as a ring of green sparks, her ghost half breathed in and then let out the air, "Alright, now for some invisibility!"

She shut her eyes and saw her form in her mind, the turned it slowly into an outline, and turned that into a completely invisible person. When Annie opened her eyes, there was nothing left of her to be seen, a weird sensation, one of ignorance and being ignored, pulsed through her veins. She turned visible again and then tried to fly, but after several failed attempts of jumping and crashing to the carpet, lay on the floor exhausted.

"I thought that flying was supposed to be the easy part," she muttered and sighed, then curled up into a ball to warm herself from her own chilling temperature. She shut her eyes and started to doze, only realizing at that point that she was indeed levitating.

_I'm FLYING! _Annie swirled around the air before she finally realized how tired she was, her powers suddenly died out and she fell to the carpet, cursing her weaknesses.

* * *

"Fused…at the molecular level you say?"

"Yes sir…and they found that no one even noticed the second car come up behind the SUV-"

"Do you have pictures?"

"Of course…" the servant handed over the colored prints to his master, a small smile hidden beneath thick brows. If his master liked the photographs, he just my get a promotion.

There was a rustling of paper and Vlad Plasmius opened the envelope, "Well well…he looks just like his father, it seems that I've found the other Phantom Fenton."

* * *

I'm sorry! SORRY! Okay, I had to get a tooth filled, you should pity me! And we're working on matrix inverses…which is tough and I've got to read this book and write about this sculptor guy and write a 3-page paper on him so I'm got my work cut out…I'll post at least every 3 days though! 


	9. Insurance mazes

Okay...Right now I'm writing a paper...heh heh, just kidding, they think I am, but in truth I'm writing this! (Laughs maniacly) ohhh and try a pumpkin spice drink at Starbucks...they're sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good! YUNNAY!

* * *

"Hey dad…"

"Jack…it's early you know…"

"I know…look, I've had an accident and well…"

A new voice butted into the conversation, his mother, "Oh my God Jack! Are you all right!"

"Yeah mom, I'm fine, but my car's beat up, and well dad, remember when you told me never to use my powers to get through traffic?"

There was silence on the other line, "…Jack…"

"Well…my car is kinda fused with this SUV, and I need a new ride…"

"Didn't I warn you never to do that!" Danny yelled into the phone and Jack winced on the other line.

"I know…but I didn't believe you…and well, I guess I can find a bus to take me to the dorms, but I wont be able to visit you without a car!"

Danny sighed, "We'll see what we can do son…"

* * *

Two weeks had passed since Annie had arrived in Vlad Master's training mansion in Canada, her muscles had already grown and she now enjoyed the runs and hard workout sessions that Ian led them through every day. Now however, strange things had happened to the cadets, instead of new interns being added to the ranks, they were being removed by the handful. Every two days, the stiff, silver-haired boy would come down while they were training and call out some people who left with him, never to return.

Gradually, the tension level increased in the students, who started at the slightest noise, and had they not been worked so hard that they fell down in exhaustion, there surely would have been a riot.

Annie practiced her powers every other day, combining her newly learned exercises with old routines and her ghostly powers. She nearly had intangibility down and had even tried to overshadow Ian once, but had failed and returned in defeat. She also had trouble with the ectoplasm beams, mainly it was because she couldn't practice without someone knowing, but she also suspected that those powers needed time to develop.

It was precisely fifteen days after she arrived that Annie's name was called, along with five others and left spots in the shrinking workout class. As she left, she glanced back at Ian, who winked and returned to teaching a difficult judo throw.

"Um…sir, where are we going?"

"You will find out."

He was brief with everything, she had noticed when he actually ate with the other interns, he had just enough to be polite and then excused himself.

"You five are now passing through the first phase of the program, now you will be tested. Fail, and we will send you home, pass, and a great reward lies in your future."

Annie stared at his lean back, "What's the catch?"

He stopped and turned with a villainous smile on his face, "Only one out of ten will pass, and _when_ you fail, I will enjoy the looks on your faces as…well, you'll find out."

Annie sighed, she didn't like him whatsoever, and she had a feeling that everything going on around the mansion was rushed. There simply was the tension in the air very similar to that of the air around a house when a college student didn't study for the final until the day before.

"What's your name anyways dude?"

"Only the survivor will find out, it is unnecessary for the failures to know."

"So what is the test anyways?"

He simply grinned again and turned down a passageway on the right and opened the door to a large room. "You have five minutes to choose whatever weapons you wish, when you are ready, go into the next room and make your way through the maze, to the finish. The first person to get there will have a hand up on the next challenge."

"There are going to be obstacles, n'est pas?" Annie growled.

"I speak no French, but yes, there will be, why else would you need weapons? You have precisely five minutes now," he drew a watch from his pocket and clicked a button. Annie manipulated her watch until a sport timer came up, she started the clock.

The five went into the next room and began to check over the weapons, Annie kept track of the time and they gathered up the equipment, she noticed that they were all ecto-powered, meant to fight ghosts. She also gathered some energy cells so the weapons would actually work.

"Alright guys, we have knowledge, but we also don't know what's going to be out there; our best bet is to stay together and help each other out."

"Do you think we're stupid?" Another brunette girl whined, "He said whoever gets there first wins, and I'm going to get there first."

"Have fun with that."

"Oh I will, and when you losers arrive like, five hours after me, I'm going to laugh my ass off at you!"

Annie merely grinned maliciously, "I know what we're going up against, and chances are, those things are stronger than us. One malfunction and you're dead meat." The other girl opened her mouth to retort again, but was cut off, "It's nearly been five minutes, lets get out there and take a defensive position."

The team opened the double-doors and emerged into the pure white maze made of stone and concrete; there was going to be no chance of slipping through the hedges in this game. A screen on the first wall proclaimed: "Begin game now."

They all powered up their weapons; the rebellious brunette marched off by herself and a blonde boy sighed after her, "Candy is just a little too hard-headed for her own good. Okay, what do we do first?"

"Put these on," Annie handed out three of the five pairs of goggles she had grabbed and put her own set on, "they detect ectoplasmic energy, so we'll be able to see things that are invisible," then she pulled out a handheld PDA, "and with this we can track out our path so we don't do a lot of retracing our steps."

"I think you plan too far ahead," Kenny remarked, running his hands nervously through his green mohawk, "but lets get through this maze A-sap."

"We'll need to communicate, I'm Annie."

"Dave."

"Hannah."

"Kenny, OH MY GOD! They've killed me!"

"This isn't the time to joke, we've got to-" Hannah stopped short as a piercing scream broke through the rather silent air, there were a few quick shots of ectoplasm, and then everything was silent.

Dave's eyes went wide, he had been the one who knew Candy. "I'm going to just give up and head back into the room, you guys can risk your necks, but I'm going to live!" He dropped his guns and ran back to the armory. Hannah picked up the dropped weapons and pushed her goggled over her eyes and took something from her pocket and stuck it on her small, pistol-like gun.

"It's a good luck charm, a garnet that's been passed down for five generations," she growled in the general direction of Dave's figure closing the doors, "What a pussy, now lets get something done." She started at a steady pace down the first corridor of the maze. Annie and Kenny stared at each other for a second and then hurried after the determined girl.

* * *

Anyhoo, please review, I like reviews...they maketh meeth happieth! 


	10. fight of the halfas

Okay, I know I haven't updated in a while, and I apologize, but I have been so freakin busy it's not funny! Okay, so this chappies longer, enjoy!

* * *

"You say that two are already out? That's even faster than I expected, usually it takes at least twenty minutes."

"Yes, but the other three have formed a team, I think that for the first time, we'll have more than one from each group passing the first trial."

"Interesting, it seems that our Annie DuVale has leadership skills," the halfa watched with interest as the team beat their way past obstacles and finally made it to the end of the labyrinth.

* * *

"That really wasn't that hard!"

"So why did Candy fail?"

Annie smiled, "Teamwork works people, duh!" She grinned and walked through the exit, followed closely by Hannah and Kenny. "Besides, we followed all the rules, who knows, we'll probably all pass now!" The three were now staring at a blank room, all a silvery-opaque color but there was nothing to be seen on the other side. "This reminds me of the Holo-deck on Voyager…"

"The what?" Kenny ruffled his hair nervously.

"Holo-deck," Hannah repeated, "You can make anything appear real, touch anything, smell anything, hear anything, and the food tastes great too!"

"Replicator food always tastes good!" Annie laughed as Kenny shook his head.

"Oh great, my teammates are trekkies!"

"Hey!" Hannah swatted lightly at his head, "Those were good series, and started a whole Sci-Fi epidemic, who knows what our world could have been like if Gene Roddenbarry hadn't created Star Trek!"

Kenny was about to retort, but the seemingly endless wall opened and Vlad Masters walked into the room. "Well done my pupils, though I'm afraid you will have to pass one more test before I can accept you as true students." He held up two small, silver bells and they jingled lightly, "You must take these from me, whoever gets the bells passes."

Hannah was the one laughing this time, "Are you kidding me, you totally stole that from _Naruto_! You try to pit us against each other, when you really want to see if we'll work together, doing the best for the group instead of just ourselves."

Annie was unable to hide the glee in her face, she had watched _Naruto_ often, at least for as long as the series lasted. It seemed that Vlad couldn't think of an original idea to save his life.

Vlad's face fell and he raised an eyebrow, "Very well then, I'm afraid I'll have to separate you three and see who passes after that, just a one on one test against someone who will be a challenge."

"Who first?" Kenny asked, "Rock, paper, scissors?" The three teens put out their hands and on the count of three, Kenny held paper, Hannah had a rock, and Annie's hand was contorted into an odd claw. "What's that?"

"Hydrogen bomb," she answered with a grin, "that definitely wins!"

"Not fair, again! Whoever has the most deadly thing this time wins, okay? Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" Kenny had both of his hands held up creating a vase-like shape, Hannah had made a bird-like shape, and Annie had an open hand with the palm facing up. "I've got Supernova."

Kenny looked at his hands, "Black hole."

Annie wiggled her fingers, "Big Bang."

The teens studied their hands, then turned to Vlad, their faces asking for a verdict.

"How about we start with the Supernova?" They nodded and Hannah remained in the Holo-deck while the others left.

"What does it do?" Kenny asked, staring through the monitor in the wall at his friend who stood limply in the middle of the room; her one active hand reached towards her belt where her ecto-gun was. "What the hell is this room for and what's going to happen to Hannah?"

"This is a surrounding room," Vlad explained, I can control the basic setting, but that's all the heads-up I'm going to give you over your classmate," he turned off the monitor to the laud disapproval of the other two interns, "I'm sorry, but this test has to be fair."

Kenny and Annie stared at each other for a second and then pressed their ears against the wall in hopes of hearing the outcome of the fight, but it was soundproof and all they got were a few muted noises. Annie turned on her stopwatch and waited for someone to walk in the door, timing the amount of time that her own fight would probably take, but when the exhausted fighter finally stomped through the door, Annie's watch read a mere three minutes.

Vlad turned on the monitor and peered down on his agent inside the holo-deck, who gave him a thumbs-up and motioned for the next student to enter the room; he re-set the settings on the room, turned the monitor off again, then led Hannah and Kenny away, which left Annie alone in the control room. She groaned and re-set her watch, wishing she could see the fight, but instead stretched out her limbs and reloaded her gun.

After four minutes of nervously cleaning her guns, Vlad entered the room again and, with a dashingly seductive smile, led her out to the holo-deck and left her alone. Annie pulled out her goggles and put them on in a flash. It was then that she noticed a green, glowing figure floating a few feet away; she pulled her gun up aimed, only to find the figure was standing directly in front of her, looking more familiar by the second

She gasped; it was the ghost-form of the cold, silver-haired guy who had led the five interns to the labyrinth. So he was a halfa! She ducked a swipe of ecto-plasmic energy and as he shot a bolt of energy at her head, she executed an intentional fall, slapping the ground with her palms so that her spine wouldn't absorb the energy of the fall. Annie then kicked the floor and spun her legs over her head so that she now lay in a crawling position.

It was then that she noticed the floor beneath her was starting to sink, like a marsh! She thanked her lucky stars that her father had been a marine-biologist and had taught her the tricks of walking in swamps and such; she stood and sank even further into the mud, but then pressed forwards towards the halfa, only to discover that he had flown behind her and she felt a sharp pain as a bolt of energy hit her back.

"GHOST FORM ACTIVATE!" Annie's anger level would have transformed her even if she hadn't wanted to go ghost; so she grinned as her form floated above the muck in a flash of green sparks that gave way to her ghost form, "Alright you dumb-ass, nobody touches me unless I allow it!" Her upper lip was twitching, "EAT SLIME CRACKER!" With one ectoplasmic bolt, she shot at the other halfa and with the other, she scooped up a glob of mud and flung it at the halfa.

He dodged the ectoplasm, but wasn't so lucky with the mud and wiped it from his face with a groan of disgust. "Alright kid, I was going easy on you, but you got MUD on my face; I don't care what the hell my father told me to do, you are going to get your ass whooped."

"I'd like to see you try," Annie had noticed a rounded spot in the mud and recognized the pocket of air underneath it, most likely consisting of a flammable fume, she began to float so that the marsh-gas bubble would be between the two halfas, "In fact, I think that you're just afraid to lose to a girl!"

He took the bait and came flying at her; Annie timed her shot and released a blast of ectoplasm just before the other halfa flew over the bubble, and it exploded in a ball of flame just as he passed over it. She laughed as he let out a gasp of surprise and disappeared in the fire; she flew over to the door and felt along the invisible wall for a handle. A punch from behind knocked the wind out from her, and she dropped out of the air and flopped to the mud, staring up at the cold youth above her.

"Intangibility is a wonderful thing," he laughed evilly and pressed his foot onto her stomach, pressing her into the mud. "Believe me…_child_, never mess with a more experienced person than yourself."

Annie's vision disappeared as her face sank into the mud, and she took one last breath of air before her entire head was submersed in the mud.

* * *

please review, and I'll update faster! 


	11. Dont touch that squirrel's Nuts!

Special thanks to my reviewers for sticking with me...I'm sorry, but I've been so bloody busy lately!

* * *

Annie struggled in the mud, her head was spinning from the loss of oxygen and the only things she could sense were the pressure from the other halfa's foot, the squish of the mud, and the torturing pain in her skull.

Fear ran through her body and her form adapted to the emotion, becoming intangible and floating upwards into the air. Annie breathed, a gasp for air before the other halfa slammed a bolt of blue ectoplasm into her back and she hit the wall full force and the wind was knocked out of her.

'Child…' her mind whispered, 'listen to your instincts! Man or ghost, it doesn't matter. He is _male_.'

Annie was startled by her thoughts and yet they spoke the truth, she turned and faced her attacker again, but by the time she had glimpsed him, he had already landed another blow. 'Okay…calm down, you cant hurt him with anger. What is he least expecting?'

He flew at her again, aiming for a punch to the head, but Annie was ready this time and turned invisible before fling head-on into the wall.

"It's ghost-proof you idiot," the dark-haired halfa nearly sang with cruel humor, "Honestly, I don't understand why my father ever chose you for this program anyways."

A memory suddenly sprang up into Annie's mind and she turned visible again and rose above the other halfa. She shook her aqua hair out while she spoke and put her hands behind her back, "Hey, grease-hair! Maybe your dad was just smarter than you…I mean, _everybody_ knows that girls are better than guys!"

"Child, honestly, that nickname suits you too well. Childish insults wont work on me."

"No…will it work on your Care-Bear collection?"

"I told you-"

"Do the chicken dance! I don't wanna be a chicken, don't wanna be a duck, so I'd better just-"

"Shut the hell-"

"Shake ya tail feathers! Girl go an' take it low, take it down to da floo'-"

"STOP RAPPING!"

"When the pimps in da-"

"STOP!"

"Good eye…sniper, I shoot…you run! The words you stapled on the walls; the-"

"THAT'S IT!" He took off and aimed a low punch at Annie, who narrowly dodged and then put her plan in motion. As he passed her, she kicked out with her foot, hitting her opponent squarely in the-

"OH FREAKIN GOD! WHAT THE HELL! AW MAN! MY NUTS!"

Annie giggled, she had always loved doing that! And while he was down, she aimed a couple of ecto-blasts at him and managed to singe his jumpsuit.

"That's it girl, you fight like a human with ghost powers and I fight like a ghost; I always win!"

She ducked his crippled attack and landed on the ground, "Ghost form deactivate!" The ghost adrenaline that had been moving her body left and Annie nearly collapsed to the ground, "True, but _that_ is my most powerful weapon!"

"What?"

Annie grabbed to ectoplasm pistols from her belt and fired several shots in succession; they threw his body against the wall despite his efforts to turn intangible. "It's ghost proof." She muttered and walked over to his nearly unconscious body, his form was flickering back to human. "Here, let me help you with that." She struck the back of his neck with a knife-hand and he blacked out.

"I win."

* * *

Vlad waited anxiously outside the testing room; when he had gone up to check the monitors, all that he had been able to see was mud. Apparently, the fight inside was fierce and one of the two inside had been thrown the thick sludge all around the room, coating the walls.

There was a click of the door, and a very exhausted person tottered out of the room. Annie stood on her shaky legs and flung the handle back, sighing as she did so.

"Ms. DuVale! I see you have passed!"

She laughed sarcastically, "Yeah, no shit Sherlock. What were you trying to do…kill me?"

"Of course not…at least I hope that your opponent didn't try to, if he did… But anyways, there is one final challenge, and it is not difficult. Walk through that door." He gestured down the gray hall.

"O…kay," Annie cracked her neck twice, then put her feet in front of each other and plodded down the hall. She got to the door and looked back at Vlad, who nodded encouragingly. She walked in and closed the door just as a silver-haired young man lunged through the door.

"Where is she!"

"Annie, she's taking the last step."

"What! But she's already a-"

* * *

"What the heck?" Annie murmured to herself, the room was all dark and she couldn't see anything but a glowing switch which read "On" and "Off."

There was a rushing noise she had heard once before and ectoplasm surrounded her form. Her already half-ghost DNA fused with this blue (not green like the last portal) ectoplasm and she couldn't stifle the scream of pure anguish that escaped her lips and rang out into the hall.

* * *

Please review, you'll find out what'shappened toAnnie in the next chapter. Full ghost? No ghost? Halfa? excessive use of question marks? YESSS!

* * *


	12. TroisQuarts and Special Darci

Well, here's the latest chapter...special thanks to Digidestined and MissMelis

* * *

"Uggh…"

"Oh good, you're finally awake."

"What?" Annie sat up and discovered that she was lying in a bed, it was bigger than her last, but all of the things that she had gathered and arranged around her old room were here. "Ian?"

He grinned, "Yessirie Annie. You've been out the longest on record so far. Kenny and Hannah came out of sleep about three hours ago."

"Three hours? Oh yeah…I flipped the switch and ploof!"

"Ploof? Okay…but anyways, I have been assigned to you by Mr. Masters to be your trainer for the next few months; if he likes your fighting skills after that, he'll let me stay as your trainer."

"Umm…Ian?" Annie looked up timidly, "Do you know who Vlad Masters is?"

"Of course, he's our benefactor. He gave me a job and for that I am grateful." He began to pace, "When you entered that door and turned on the switch…what happened was…your DNA got altered. You're half-ghost now."

"Half-ghost…" Annie tried to act surprised, but all that came out was a tired expression. "And what does this mean?"

"You have the ability to turn invisible, intangible, shoot ectoplasmic bolts…basic ghost powers, you know. You told me before that you had watched Danny Phantom, it's just like that."

"Neat-o." Annie sighed and flopped back down into the bed, she felt different from before, not like when she had been human, but it was as if someone had just handed her a whole bunch of power and left no instruction manual. "But Ian, I want to know just what the heck is going on here. Why is Vlad P-…Masters turning all these people into halfas?"

"Vlad Plasmius? So you've figured it out too?"

"I haven't!"

"It's alright; I debugged the room so we could talk freely. Yes, he's Vlad Plasmius, but he doesn't seem to have any evil intent in mind. Just give it time, a mean, didn't he promise you free college?"

"Yeah, but it's VLAD!" Annie stood up and began bouncing on the bed, "PLASMIUS!"

"No need to scream. I've de-bugged the room, but if someone's standing outside, they can hear you if you yell loud enough! Just calm down Annie and relax. We'll start your training now. Sit." He lifted one hand in command as she refused his order, "I'll ask once more, sit."

"I'm not a dog!"

He raised one eyebrow and then jumped up and pulled one of her legs out and twisted around; his pupil landed in a cross-legged position. "We are going to meditate."

* * *

"Are you sure Hugh? Are you absolutely positive that she was a halfa?" 

"Yeah dad, why would I lie to you!" Vlad Master's son flopped down in the plush leather chair, "But hopefully there'll be no unwanted side effects that could ruin our plans."

"That would be terrible. We've waited far too long to have our dreams broken by a powerful little upstart."

* * *

Annie sat alone, she had already gotten a hang of where all the cameras were, they were very numerous in the living area, but there were none in the bathroom. It was just as well, if there had been any in there, she would have broken them all. 

With a pen, piece of paper, and tin of matches in her hand, she snuck into the shower and closed the door, turning the light on as she did. With the shower running, she could write now. 'Time for some math.'

"One-half ghost…plus one-half ghost, plus human…equals one ghost plus one human…AGFH! That equals two…okay…lets try…one human + x amount of ghost one….okay that should work. Okay, so h+x1 and ½ h+…okay, now I'm confused. If I was half human and half ghost after my first portal experience, for the second time, I would split the remaining human DNA and the ghost DNA which leaves me with ½ new ghost DNA, ¼ old ghost DNA, and ¼ human DNA. But ghost DNA fuses with other ghost DNA…that was in episode 243…so that means I'm ¾ ghost…I'm a three-fourtha!"

Her eyes took the new information eagerly, "Now I think that this might call for a pseudonym! Three-fourths…hum, but that guy I fought knows I was a halfa before the second portal, so I can't just call myself that without being a complete idiot. Three-fourths in French is 'Trois-Quarts', but what does that sound like? 'Three Warts' is more like it."

She dropped her head to her knees and breathed in the shower's steam. "Wait a second! 'Three-Cats'! But that implies more than one person…yes! I know… 'The Third Cat'! Yes! _Parfait_!"

Annie whipped out a match and held her burning paper over the shower drain, her fingers gripped the blank part of the parchment and the name burned itself into her mind as the written word turned to ashes and disappeared down the drain.

"I am the Third Cat."

* * *

Ok class, what have we learned? Vlad Plasmius knows about Annie, Ian is scary sometimes and knows Karate(wait, you knew that already), Vlad's son is Hugh 

My hyper self: Was he born a halfa or made into one?

My depressed self: Mebeh we'll answer that in the next chapter.

Special Darci: laughs maniacly

My Depressed self: We also know that Annie is good at math, despite her horric attempts at solving for variables...

S.D.: DAHHHH! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

M.H.S.: She nees meds...

M.D.S.: Oh, and Ian knew about Vlad...I think that's it...except for "Oh mon dieu! Ils ont tue Kenny! Vous Batards! A fuzzy scarf for whoever guess what this translates out to be...coughtheykilledKennycough**Oh, BTW, "Parfait" means perfect, she's not talking about McDonalds food!**

S.D.: heh heh, knitting needles! Stabs Greg

Greg: I knew she would do that...


	13. No villian is onesided

There was something wrong about the boy's eyes; they were cold and seemed to be glowing as he stared with a questioning look at the picture of his so-called arch foe. The profile snapshot from a "Weird Jobs Quarterly" magazine gazed into the distance, and the blue-eyed, black-haired child was smiling innocently.

"We're enemies, but I haven't even met you in real life." In a way, Hugh envied this phantom, the one who had never become a celebrity ghost like his father. Of course, his father hadn't seen the need to develop his son's skills like Vlad had done. "Why do I hate…and pity you?"

The silver-haired young man stood and plodded over to his door and activated his locks, including the anti-ghost shield so that there wouldn't be any unwanted, invisible visitors. With the perimeters secure, he could unearth to the stolen goods, which were hidden under a pile of dirty laundry.

Hugh opened the photo album and stared at the pictures plastered to the pages: the first, three teens. All were screaming as they went over a giant drop on a roller coaster; he could easily pick out his father because of the family chin, delicate but well-defined. There was also Jack Fenton and his future wife, Maddie.

"Thank you for not marrying him," Hugh whispered to the red-headed girl, "I wouldn't be the same as I am now if you had," he turned his attention to the picture below that one of his father and Jack Fenton, "And you, I curse you for these powers, and yet I thank you for them as well."

He turned about halfway through book to the photo of a picture of his father again, only this time his hair was silver and his face was covered in hideous zits. It was after this that the pictures of Vlad, Maddie, and Jack ceased in number and then began to be replaced by photos of his father's many successes.

Another few pages and the subject switched again, now it was a young Daniel Fenton and his sister Jasmine; five pages were all it took to summarize their childhood. Hugh threw this album to the ground and uncovered another; it was titled: Danny Phantom.

This was Hugh's only clue into the true life of the Phantom, unbiased from his father's comments, that is. He opened the book and found what he was looking for, a short document written by the ghost-boy himself; it was a letter written directly to Vlad, an angry letter telling him to stop hitting on his mom, stop trying to kill his father, and explain why he refused to use his powers for selfish reasons.

After this page came many labeled pictures documenting Danny Phantom's powers and abilities, as well as a couple of pictures of a young girl dressed in purple and black and an African-American boy with a strange hat, glasses and an old-fashioned PDA.

The last picture in the album was a wedding photo of Danny Fenton and his wife, Samantha, looking happily at the camera as they displayed two plain, gold rings.

Hugh threw that album to the floor on top of the other and then opened his nightstand's drawer; he pulled out another picture, one he had secretly scanned from his father's files during one of the tests. It showed a stressed-out boy with blue eyes and scraggly black hair talking nervously on a cell-phone.

He dropped the photo back into his drawer as someone knocked on the door, covering up the albums as he walked to the door and unlocked it.

"Yeah?"

"Um hi…uh, Hugh!" Ian smiled nervously up at the taller youth, "Your dad sent me here because, well, he said he wanted to train me personally, so you'll be taking over my student…Annie DuVale. We've been doing a lot of training, about three one-hour sessions per day, so she's ready for some more advanced stuff, okay?"

The eyes of the taller boy suddenly changed to a bright, shining red, and Ian took that as a dismissal. Hugh shut the door behind him and locked it; then, without a second thought, floated down the hall floor in an intangible form. "New student, eh?"

* * *

"Oh…my god, that bloody thing is even more freakin' annoying than my old alarm clock!" Annie stared at her new trainer, already transformed to his ghost image, which leered over her waking face.

"Yes, well it's time to get up Ann; we've got a lot of work to do today!"

* * *

YAY! I've finally seen "Bitter Relations" I know now how Vlad came to be and how Danny first met him…sorry, I pretty much just got cable so now…I'm happy! Special thanks to my reviewers, you guys get pixie stix and Snickers! Yay, and that's directly from the Halloween Bag! 


	14. au revoir

I'm sorry to announce this, but, well…with all I have going on right now, it is becoming increasingly harder to update. The truth is, I think I've finally gotten away from the "obsessive over the internet" phase…which is sort of a "YAY" and "WAH!" for me. So any updates will probably be on the weekends, and once these stories are finished, chances are that there will not be sequels. Perhaps there will be brief short stories, but other than that…uh, nah.

So anyways, I'd like to thank you, the reviewers, for all your reviews and am extremely grateful for all who write here. I'm not gone forever, simply immersed in a growing pile of work and physical activities.

Callie will still update though, whenever she can, she will. (wow, that made no sense!) Thanks again!

ArcherofDarkness.


	15. Cranfest and Celeste

Wow…I got more reviews for that note than anything else! Special thanks to Zaneta for that great French…Sorry, I'm just in French 2 and I love the language! I would like to be a little more fluent in it but…wellllllllllllllllll, my French teacher doesn't teach us very much…erg. But thanks for the time on that translation hugs, you must be really good at French, I used a dictionary (heheh). And also Missmelliss, my fave DP writer hugs and you also win….dun dun…POCKY! Yay! HUZZAH FOR POCKY!

* * *

Jack sat down at one of the many seats in the lecture hall; he had arrived just before the professor had begun his lecture and tried to make as little noise as possible while getting out a notebook and pen. The other students around him were dozing off, and despite feeling the urge to do the same, he had a strange feeling in the gut of his stomach. He was being watched.

Quickly, he split into an invisible ghost form and left his human half to take notes; the halfa side phased through the floor and began to search for the spy. The two separate halves were mentally cut-off from each other, so Jack didn't so much as wince when his ghost form was sucker-punched from behind.

The attacker, a rough-looking soldier ghost, was no match for the well-trained Jack Phantom and was quickly disposed of, that is, sucked into a Fenton Thermos without a chance of escape. No one in the lecture hall noticed when Jack's two forms joined again, but remained in their same, lethargic state. With the only adrenaline rush of the day out of the way, he drooped back down and continued to listen to the droning professor.

* * *

"COME ON! FASTER! FASTER! FASTER!"

"WHY DON'T YOU GO FASTER!"

The girl was barely making the count, trying her hardest to reach the peak of her knees on every number; she brought her torso up again and again in the repetitive sit-up.

"Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, two hundred. Good, we're done with those…for now." Hugh grinned maliciously at the girl, who glared back as she scrambled to her feet.

"What do you mean? All we've been doing for the past week is push-ups and sit-ups." Annie tried desperately to catch her breath, but her trainer was just simply giving her no break, "Can't I have some water?"

"Fine, water is for the weak."

"And dehydration is for the stupid."

The two exchanged glares again and then turned away simultaneously.

Hugh sighed, "Well, I feel that you have enough stamina now to begin your true training. Transform." Two bands of light started at his core and moved vertically to change his entire body to a ghost form. His hair had become black and spiked up into two small globes; the excess hair fell down from the buns.

Annie fell to the ground laughing.

"What!"

She pounded the ground and choked out: "You…look…like Sailor Moon!"

Hugh put his hands onto his head, "I didn't think that anyone actually watched that show anymore!"

"I watched it a long time ago…Meatball-head."

Hugh huffed and undid his hair and tied it back in a plain ponytail. "Is that better?"

"Sure is…Darien…"

"GET OVER IT!" he roared, then calmed down as Annie switched her forms and floated above the ground. "Now, we're starting on ectoplasmic bolts today, but you seem to know how to use that already, don't you?"

Annie held up a hand and aimed at the ghost cut-out, "You focus on your inner anger and channel the power…it's like breaking a board in Karate!" She grinned and fired with all her might, surprised when the cardboard ghost burst into pink flame. "Huh?"

Hugh stared at her for a second. "Okay…so you can shoot pink ectoplasm…I didn't start that 'till I was seven. Next target, try to shoot green."

"Okay…" Annie aimed again and tried to control the anger to get a softer color, but what came out instead was a pale green, and it barely burned the next target. "That wasn't good."

"Interesting…okay, try again, green. Remember the feel of green ectoplasm. Channel the green anger, not pale green, not pink, just green."

Annie raised one eyebrow at him and then turned back to the target; she pictured herself as a mass of colors, the green was uncontrolled anger, there was also the pink (revenge anger), and the pale green (a passive anger). "Okay, uncontrolled!" She shot out a stream of green ectoplasm and stared at her work with a grin. "Destroying stuff is fun!"

The other halfa nodded and gestured at the other targets, "I want you to have as much fun with these as you can, destroy them."

Annie was about to throw another green bolt when a new color presented itself to her: hate-anger, but what did she hate right now? 'The damn cut-outs…think of them as Orlando Bloom and Ashley Simpson combined!' her mind whispered. She reared back and concentrated the anger on the cut-outs.

"Wow…" Hugh stared at the piles of ash on the ground; even he wouldn't want to be in the way of that color of ectoplasmic energy. The last bolt had come precariously close to his face and the simple heat coming off of it had made him jump. "Good…job?"

"Thanks," Annie grinned, "So…Hugh, how much more work do we have."

"Well…we've had a good week so far, so why not take a break this afternoon?" He was still staring at the charred "ghost" remains.

"That's a nice surprise; see you tomorrow! Bright and early that is." Annie dropped out and into her human form.

Hugh considered telling his father, but it just didn't seem like the proper thing to do since it would admit he had been frightened by a student. He pulled his blood-red cape around his now-freezing body and also dropped to his human form, "I wonder if she's any good at math…" His eyes began to glow as he lifted one hand and thought of his father, black flame appeared in the human hand.

* * *

Celeste Fenton skipped down the road, her long, muscular arms carried a small notebook and a pen; her only homework tonight was to draw an imaginary animal or fantastical person. The rest of her school supplies were still in her locker back at Spectral High School. The bus had dropped her off about a mile from home, so she had used her ghost powers to get home even faster than a normal human.

As she began the ascent up her driveway, Celeste noticed that the mailbox was filled and the lid had begun to open from the massive amount of mail inside. "Doesn't anyone ever take in the mail besides me?" she muttered. The lid opened and a mass of letter, bills, and junk mail poured out. She rolled her eyes and scooped up the paper and staggered to the door.

"Bill…Bill…Junk…Junk…oooohh…to Celeste Fenton from the DALV Association. Humm…" She opened the bleached letter to unfold a short note.

_From the Distribution Academy of Language and Values,_

_You have been invited to attend a seminar in Seattle on the 14th of November for the DALV annual conference. Many linguists will be attending as well as the leaders in many new forms of science. Special guest speakers include: Vlad Masters, Estil Janyun, Madeline Fenton, and Teal Leon. We would be happy to have you attend._

_Sincerely_

_Shirley West_

_DALV President_

"Gran's going to be speaking at a DALV conference…cool!" She jumped up and ran to her dad's room; her mother worked during the day while her father stayed home and did most of the chores around the house. It stayed mostly spotless except for the times when a ghost invaded looking for the Phantom.

"DAD! I GOT AN INVITATION TO THIS CONFERENCE AND GRAN'S GOING TO BE SPEAKING!"

"I can hear you Celeste," Danny had floated down from his room and now stood behind his daughter, wincing from his daughter's powerful voice, "What conference is this?"

"It's this annual thing for this huge association and Gran's going to be speaking and it's so cool because well…and the date works out so I wont miss any school!"

"Let me see it." Danny took the letter and quickly read it, "I guess…but I'm going with you, and maybe I can get your brother to go too. Don't you think he's been acting a little weird since he started college?"

"Yeah…but can't I just go with Gran and Gramps?"

"Why…embarrassed by your old man?"

Celese sighed and took back the letter, "It's just…you look more like my older brother than my dad…and do you know that Ms Anders next door thinks Mom is a child molester just 'cause she married you? It's 'cause you look so…young."

Danny dropped his gaze for a second, then looked back up, "Just because I don't look older doesn't mean I shouldn't make the mature decision. You should think about doing the same thing. No, I'm going with you; mymom worked hard to get to this point in her life, and I want to see the peak of her career."

Celeste sighed and flew upwards, phasing through the ceiling and her room wall, "They never understand me," she whimpered and pulled out her notebook and began drawing furiously. It was a halfa with white hair, green eyes, and a silver and black jumpsuit. She began to draw vampire teeth…

* * *

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! Hugh…I wanna goooooo!"

"WHY?"

Annie sighed and held up the flyer, "Cranfest USA! It's the first time I haven't had school interfering with the date! Cranberries rock!"

"Warrens, Wisconsin? Ugh…it's in the US…we're in Canada. Ask Mr. Masters if you can go."

She peered at her instructor, "Hugh…do you get along well with your dad?"

He glared back, "Can't you butt out of what doesn't concern you?"

"No. I didn't get along with my parents either."

"I'm sorry; come on now, we'll go see my father."

Usually it was hard to get past all of the restrictions to Vlad's private office, but Hugh knew all of the passwords and presented his student to his father in no more than ten minutes after she had pestered him.

"Um…dad…I've got a student here who wants to ask for a day of leave…?"

"Miss Duvale?" Vlad put on his slyest grin, "A day for what? Did a new brand of make-up come out?"

"No…she wants to attend Cranfest in Warrens, Wisconsin. It's about thirty minutes down the road from the mansion, and I know you were planning on moving therecruits there in about a week, so maybe I could take her down early and get the place aired out a little early…?"

"Fine…" Vlad reached into his dresser file and pulled out a pair of keys, "One to the garage and the other to the jet…please don't crash it like you did the last time, okay Hugh?"

"Thanks dad," the younger Masters growled and stomped out.

Annie was tapping her foot; she knew better than to stick her head through the wall. Hugh appeared through the door in a fluster, his face was red in embarrassment. "How'd it go?"

He paused and gritted his teeth, "We're headed to the states, pack everything."

* * *

Well…that's pretty long, and I'll also be updating during thanksgiving holiday…please review and even if you don't…enjoy!

And BTW…DALV is an actual organization, it's not just another one of Vlad's plots…though it does kind of coincide with one and well…tune in next time!

Another BTW...yes, it's not just you, all of my characters do have problems with their fathers, I dont, mine's awesome! it's me mum I dont get...


	16. Sigma Tap and a fear of Flight

CHAPTER 15

* * *

Jack Fenton stared at the exam, whimpering at the grade. "I knew I should have studied more," he whispered. The large, red numbers were circled in more red, a fifty-three. An F, his parents were going to kill him as soon as they found out.

A girl behind him chatted to her friends, "It really wasn't that hard; I hardly studied at all! Now my English exam, that was hard!..."

He quit listening and stared in despair at his test.

* * *

Ian looked up at the first knock and then stopped his movement in hopes that his visitor would move on. They knocked again and again, and just as he was about to phase through the floor to get away, a voice called out.

"IAN! It's me…now open the damn door or I'm coming in!"

He sighed and flew to the door, unlocking it and twisting the knob just as Annie phased through the wall. "Well…why are you here?"

Annie sighed and dropped to the floor, "Vlad's moving the training grounds to Wisconsin…my favorite state in the whole USA! I heard that everyone who hasn't been initiated so far is going to be cut from the program."

"It's true…but that's good," the short red-head sighed, "Less people who have their lives permanently altered."

"Yeah…"Annie sighed, "So how's your personal training going?"

"Good…but it's hard, oh yeah! And there's one thing I wanted to show you, something I learned from Plasmius personally…it's called a sigma tap. Get up and transform." They both rose into their ghost forms and Ian, for the first time ever, went into ghost mode in front of his past student. His long, red hair was now green, and his eyes a fierce magenta. "Now…meditate."

Annie sighed but followed the instructions, clearing her head of all thoughts except Ian's voice. "Look into your veins and see all your blood, your heart, your lungs and organs. Now…starting with your heart, picture your blood turning black, and that ink is going and transforming all of your blood to black. Now all of your organs are turning black, everything is black.

"Concentrate. The black is oil, starting with your heart, picture it all going up in flame, your powers are at a peak. Everything is coming out!"

Annie opened her eyes just as Ian shouted for her not to; a bolt of green followed her gaze, and Ian's bed burst into flame.

"Oh crud."

Together, the two halfas destroyed the evidence of the burn markings, each throwing bolts of flaming ectoplasm onto the sheets. Luckily, there was a servant passing by with fresh laundry, and they stolea set of sheetsoff of her cart without her noticing.

Ian was clueless as to making the bed, so Annie was forced to tuck corners and fold over covers so that Ian could mess it up again and make it look normal. Vlad would never know.

"He wouldn't want me teaching you that," the redhead sighed after the fiasco was over, "he said that only three people other than him knew how to do the sigma tap. I guess it takes more control than power to master it."

"So…three…four…and you make five. Five people know about it. Vlad, you, Hugh…that leaves Danny Phantom and one other."

"Yeah, but who's he?"

* * *

Hugh tapped his foot impatiently as he stood outside the private plane; Annie was late, and he wanted to leave this place. Something about his father always made him nervous, trapped, and when he flew, that feeling went away.

His pupil finally appeared from the closest door of the training facility, and he sighed in relief, at the same time climbing into the cockpit and starting the engine.

"What are you doing? I'm not missing Cranfest this year!" Annie huffed as she threw her luggage into the passenger compartment and pulled out an I-pod. "And now where exactly are we headed?"

"Home," Hugh sighed and closed the plane door, climbed back into his, and prepared to take off from the runway. "I love Wisconsin; the huge lakes, dense forests, and best of all…the cheese!"

Annie climbed into the copilot seat and fastened her belt, "So…are you any good at flying this thing?" but Hugh was concentrating on getting the plane off the ground and paid her no attention. "Alrighty then."

The plane began to pick up speed, and both the passengers were pushed to the back of their seats. The nose rose as the greenery went speeding by, and slowly they rose into the air, a silver bird in a blue sky.

Hugh was yawning in an effort to make his ears stop buzzing, but this was Annie's first time in a plane. She was gripping the seats and leaving small dents where her nails cut into the leather.

"Don't scratch the seats," Hugh said as he started to relax, then pulled the plane up further into the atmosphere. "Just look outside and be amazed."

Annie peered out and then gasped in surprise; they were rising in a large spiral, and the training grounds looked as small as a matchbox car. They started to penetrate the clouds, wisps of fog flew by the two halfas, but only one was already lost in her dreams.

"Okay…when I said stare out the window, I didn't mean as if you could fly…actually, I'm going to circle for about ten minutes…go take a fly, but be back in seven minutes! I don't want to leave you behind, and I highly doubt you can catch up to 1 plane going over two-hundred miles per hour." Hugh pulled slightly at the controls and the plane began to circle steadily. "Seven minutes of cloud time."

Annie's eyes lit up as she transformed, now without her 'Ghost power, activate' cry, and flew intangibly into the atmosphere.

"Wow," it took half a minute for the Annie to slow down a bit. She flew up and down among the clouds, ignoring the bitter cold, concentrating instead on the strong sun on her back. "The sky is even more beautiful up close." She giggled and began to speed along the clouds, spotted the plane and tried to catch up to it, pouring Ian's sigma tap into the squiggle that her legs had become.

For one brief moment, Annie closed her eyes and concentrated on the black power, pouring all of her emotions into her speed. When she opened them again, her body was just behind the plane. With a little more energy, Annie turned invisible and flew just in front of the cockpit, noticing that Hugh had lost a lot of his interest in flying; instead, he was pulling out a CD book and selected one, placing it into a hidden radio in the floor.

Annie went intangible and drifted slowly back into her seat, then dropped the intangibility and remained staring at her instructor, who was now bobbing his head to Velvet Revolver's latest album.

"You done?" Annie whispered just as she became visible and her green sparks transformed her back into her normal self, Annie DuVale.

Hugh jumped and glared, "Wow…way to scare the piss outta me."

His pupil grinned maliciously and caught the beat of the song on the radio. "You should put in _Homecoming._"

He growled, "I left that CD back in Wisconsin; I just hope that you like rock and aren't going to try to sway me to becoming the next Eminem."

"I shan't…I like my rock, but no metal…it hurts my ears."

"That's good," Hugh sighed and settled back into the flying mantra and popping a new CD into the radio after the old one ended. Annie remained staring at the clouds and enjoying the music.

After about four hours, Hugh elbowed the dozing Annie and motioned for her to put her seatbelt on again; they were beginning the descent. As they emerged on the underside of the clouds, Annie gasped at the gigantic mansion underneath them. Hugh didn't care about the scenery; all he could think about was how he could land the plane in a way that wouldn't give his father a reason to rag on him.

The plane began to shake as they descended, coming up on the private landing strip. Annie gripped the seat again, trying not to puncture the leather again, but she closed her eyes and when they opened again, the plane had landed and was slowing.

"Well…that wasn't too hard," she said in a wobbly voice, then collapsed and fell through the floor of the plane in a dead faint.

* * *

Wow…talk about fear of flight! Please review if you love me! 


	17. Helen, Candy Bars, and Jack

YAY! Chapter whatever of Peur Moi is finally up! I'm hoping for reviews…please?

* * *

Annie woke in a dark room, her head was pounding and she felt as though someone had turned her bones into Jell-o. "My head…" she groaned and turned onto her side, twisting the soft sheets into a tangled mess. A door opened with a creak and a cool cloth wiped across the girl's head.

"Calm down…you fainted from fear…of a plane."

"Why would I be afraid of a stupid little plane?" Annie groaned and cracked her eyes open to see a young woman in a lime green blouse, "And who are you?"

"I am the physical manifestation of post-human consciousness."

"Oh…you're a ghost too?"

The young woman snickered and brought an Almond Joy from her pocket, grinning as Annie stared hungrily. With a sigh, she handed it over to the younger girl, "You're just lucky that my brother had enough sense to bring you here and not to that drafty old mansion! God, that place is so cold and…" she paused for a second, "I'm Helen Sparks."

"And I'm Annie," she frowned, "I thought your name was Masters."

"It was, I legally changed it on my eighteenth birthday, best day of my life!"

"But-" Annie was cut off by the creaky door again; Hugh walked in and smirked at his sister.

"I see you've met my sister. Helen, this is the girl who already knows the Sigma Tap." At this remark, Annie's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to protest, "Don't worry, I wont tell my father."

Helen handed her brother a bar of chocolate from her pocket and smirked as he tore it open and snarfed down the candy. "You see, we're both aware of our father's plot: Buy the Packers, take over the world, win Maddie's heart, but we're doing something about it. When I was younger, my father started teaching me all of the ghost powers, training me to see in a very narrow-minded fashion. I resisted, and he disowned me.

"Unfortunately, this also meant I couldn't talk to my dear little brother, who was quickly becoming another of dad's minions," she cast a glance at her sibling, "But I didn't know he was secretly sabotaging dad's plots. I had to save his ass many times. But now we work together: I do the outside work, and he uncovers the newest plots, passes them to me, and I destroy them.

"So Annie…what's your story?"

Hugh licked his fingers, removing the final traces of chocolate from them. "She was recruited by dad via the internet. You passed the training, but, there is one question I have: Were you a halfa before you walked into my father's portal?"

Annie sat up and swung her feet over to the side of the bed, "Well…I don't know if I should trust you…but I've got this instinct about people; it usually tells me not to trust people, but right now it's saying I should." She sighed and fell on her back, staring at the ceiling. "It all began back in tenth grade…

"I was a Freshman back at high school, we had got cable, finally, and I turned on the tube one Friday to see the premiere of a new show. Danny Phantom." Helen and Hugh exchanged a glance that Annie missed, "I loved it, watched the entire series through thick and thin. Then, it ended, and one day I logged on the computer and met this guy who said he wanted to employ me…so I accepted, anything to get away from my overprotective parents.

"I ended up in a room with a computer and met everyone, but I also saw something else, a ghost portal." The girl grinned at the white ceiling, "I wonder whether I was meant to see it and become the cat that was killed by curiosity…but I became a halfa. Then I got to battle you Hugh, barely won too. People just don't expect a halfa to fight with human weapons I suppose. So then I went into another portal accidentally; if I had known it was a portal, I would have just turned on the blasted thing from the outside and said I was just a plain halfa, but no! I accidentally get zapped TWICE!

"I was just a bug! A bug in a bug-zapper, but Ian taught me how to disguise my form so that it would be possible for you to think that I had simply been overshadowed." Annie sat up again and grinned at Hugh, "Did you think that's what happened?"

"No," Hugh huffed.

Helen laughed, "He just thought that he was hallucinating again!"

"Shut up!"

"Awwww, poor psychotic little brother of mine!"

"You want to fight this out!" Hugh growled, his eyes lighting up.

"We both know who would win that; so Annie, will you help us? We keep everything a secret, so you'd have to promise to keep ours."

Annie grinned, "Cool beans."

* * *

"What am I doing here?" Jack Fenton muttered to himself, picking his way through the weeklong festival, which seemed to grow daily. He knew that his father would kill him for skipping school, but he just needed to get away from the people who continually tormented him.

There was a pie contest, seeing who could create the best cheese-cranberry pie, and right next door was a pie-eating contest. Cranfest was absolutely jam-packed, and jack switched to an invisible, intangible mode to quickly get to the outskirts of the booths.

Jack flew to the top of the festival's sign and stared out across the nearby forest. If he flew some miles in that direction, he would come to the mansion of the late Dairy King, not a place that any ghost liked visiting. An expensive, sporty car pulled up and dropped an older girl off at the start of the long line of booths. She said something to the, walked to a bench, and sat.

Her expression was one of boredom, something that jack had in common with her. The halfa dropped to the ground and became human again inside of a pile of bushes, but when he emerged again, the girl was chattering excitedly to a boy with a curved chin and silver.

His temper boiling, jack marched over to the couple. "Fancy seeing you here…Masters."

"AH! Jack, it's Jack…isn't it?"

"Yes…what are you doing here? Trying to pull yet another person into your twisted plot, eh?"

"You don't know the _half_ of it!" The two tensed up and sparks from their glowing eyes met in a glow not unlike lightning.

"Um…hello…people, we're getting some weird stares!" Annie whispered, "Maybe we should walk somewhere," her tone clearly indicated an order. She broke the two apart and pushed them forwards into the mass of people. A strange sensation built up in her throat, and a cold, humid wave flashed over her. "I think there's a ghost around here."

The other two still didn't notice anything aside their conflict, so Annie left them and ran to a picnic table and transformed. Rising invisible above the crowd, she quickly spotted the culprit.

"Oh man…it's Ember!" Flying closer, she noticed that the ghostly rock star was actually good with her guitar. "HEY! EMBER! Don't you know that there's no hard rock at Cranfest USA?"

"What?" Ember sighed, "Great, no matter where I go, there's always another good ghost trying to stop me."

"Good? Maybe. Bad? Nope! Andletting tons of people be controlled by music is not good! Ever try just making an album and selling it like normal people, I bet you'd get a platinum in a few months with such a good band…that is, if you made a few songs that aren't about yourself."

"Keep talking halfa!" She aimed the guitar at the floating girl and strummed a chord that a chord of hard, pink ectoplasm.

Annie flew backwards and was tumbled by the blast, but recovered well. The people at Cranfest seemed to be almost unaffected by the music though. "HA! Shows what you know! Old people don't warm up to hard, new rock. You've got no audience here!"

"Oh really?"

Annie glared back and then saw two other ghosts rising above the mass of people, their eyes were glowing red under Ember's powerfully mesmerizing music.

"Hugh? Kid who I think is called Jack?"

* * *

HAHA! I wrote a cliffy…don't worry, I'll be updating a lot sooner than this one came, No more buisiness to do, we don't have EOC's till January cuz the school board loves tourists and rearranged our schedule for them….AHH! TOURISTS! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! 


	18. Attack of the Clones

Okay…I've been typing all day! English and fics alike! Hopefully, I'll get some more sense in my fingers and stop screwing up! I swear…my brain is starting to hurt from all this writing! OK! New chappie! And BTW…I hope to finish this up in about 6 chapters and start on another ficc idea I've had!

* * *

"Hugh? Jack…okay, you can stop with the weird, creepy red eye thing. Please?" Annie hovered above the stage and tried to think rationally. 'If I was Danny Phantom, how would I beat Ember?'

Jack and Hugh attacked, throwing orange blasts of light at the other halfa, who dodged and feinted. Ember laughed below as her minions did her bidding.

'I could try the singing thing!' Annie thought desperately, as a shot of ectoplasm slammed into her torso and she was slammed to the side of a booth. 'But she's not using a microphone!' She glanced up and barely saw Hugh's blow before his fist knocked her head back.

"HA!" Ember shouted over the crowd, "What you don't know…will be your downfall!" She suddenly switched to an old song, a Beatles song. _I want to hold your hand._ "This is their generation!"

The crowd of people suddenly stopped what they were doing and began cheering for the ghostly rocker. The senior citizens were quickly entranced by the mesmerizing chords of sound.

"Using the Beatles to control people…that's a new low!" Annie screamed and fought her way into the sky, aiming directly for Ember's position, but she was swept out of the sky by a dark purple shot of ectoplasm. "JACK! STOP!"

Maybe it was time for a new tactic; Annie dropped through the crowd and the ground in an intangible mode, emerging invisible just behind Ember's back.

"TELL ME WHO YOU LOVE!" The rock star shouted over the eager cries of the crowd, dropping her guitar to her side.

"WE LOVE YOU EMBER!" They screamed back and Ember picked her guitar back up and strummed a chord.

Annie suddenly appeared, grinning like a maniac when the limp strings plopped like wet noodles against the body of the guitar. "Without your guitar, you're nothing!"

Ember hurriedly tightened the strings, but her next chord came out horribly off-key, and her new-found audience quickly lost their hypnotic gaze and wandered away. Jack shook his head as the red in his eyes vanished. "What?"

"GET THE BLOODY FENTON THERMOS!"

Ember looked up horrified, "Not the stupid thermos!"

Hugh came flying in, knocking Ember off her feet, and just as she stood back up, Jack sucked her into his thermos.

"Ahh…teamwork," Annie said with a smile, collapsing from her first "me vs evil ghost" fight.

"What? Teamwork?" Jack growled, "We were…still under hypnotic spell! Yeah!"

"Yeah," Hugh growled, glaring back at Jack, "And it's wearing off pretty fast…"

"Nice meeting you Jack!" Annie cried out as she dragged the black-haired halfa away from the stage.

* * *

The rest of the day was much less eventful than the morning, Annie won second place in a pie-eating contest, and Hugh bought a few kinds of specialty Wisconsin cheeses. They eventually headed to the Dairy Mansion at nightfall, but the halls were dark, dreary, and cold from two months of absence.

Hugh found the main light switches and opened up the west wing, found his guest enough blankets for the night and bid her a good sleep, with no early morning wake-up, and left for the labs.

At the lowest floor of the castle were the damp basements, which had been transformed into bleached rooms. The air was damp and there was almost no light except for Hugh's lantern. He stepped carefully around the new puddles that had grown in the damp atmosphere on the cold floor.

The last room held the most precious and valuable object in the entire house: a fully operational ghost portal. Hugh went ghost and flew into the portal.

* * *

"Oh dear…I'm alone…again." The woman with brilliantly orange hair sighed into her mug of hard cider. "All alone with no one to save my sorry soul." The beautiful Madeline Fenton squeezed her eyes shut as tears threatened to spill over.

"Please don't cry…" Maddie looked up and saw the boy floating over her head, his eyes wide with pity. "Please don't cry."

"GET AWAY!" She screamed and pulled out her nearest weapon, a miniaturized Fenton Pistol, the sadness in her eyes left as anger took its place, "You filthy ghost, GET AWAY!"

Hugh blocked the shots, "I'm not here to harm you, only please, please, don't do anything drastic…" he dropped his gaze, "Please…mother…don't do anything…"

She dropped the weapon, "Who are you? You look like…"

"I'm not Danny Fenton, or his son. You don't know me at all," Hugh dropped his head, "But even though your husband was killed by ghosts, we're not all bad, and those that you think are evil…aren't." He sighed, "We're just misunderstood."

There was a strange warmth that came over Maddie as the ghost-boy embraced her, a kind of warmth that wasn't physical, but when she opened her eyes, he was gone.

* * *

"Too close," Hugh growled as he emerged back through his own portal, "Way too close for comfort." But now he had let the secret begin its route to the light; events had been set in motion that could not be stopped.

The lantern he had brought to the lab had long since gone out, a ball of ectoplasmic energy lit the way to the first lab. The far wall swung around to reveal a secret room. Here were the results of his father's cloning experiments: formaldehyde preserved embryos; some were horrifically mutated, others' organs had failed for unknown reasons.

The final result dropped his hand to his side and stared at his undeveloped siblings.

* * *

Okay…so Vlad's kids are clones and Maddie is their mother…now you know why I never mentioned their mother before! cuz I just made all this stuff up EEEEEEEEE! But I can promise a great ending and stuff… 


	19. Cafe con leche, waffles, smurf

Well this is for your Melissa…it might take a little longer than expected since I finally figured out how I'm going to end this bloody story, then it's off to creating Avatar Fanfiction…YEE! Zuko-kun…wanna know how obsessed I am? For sculpture, I did a life-like bust of him…Malia thinks it's weird too but forgives me because of her Kurama crush…YAY FOR ANIMATED CRUSHES AND COFFEE! Ahem…sorry, I got sidetracked…on to the story!

* * *

"Wake up!"

"Mffffghhh…" Annie rolled over in her makeshift bed: a bundle of blankets on a rug in one of the empty rooms, "You said there would be _no_ wake-up call."

"I did," Hugh growled, prodding the girl's stomach with the end of his shoe, "But I just found out something that will make everything right, bring the world to a good balance! Something that could-"

Annie sat up and elbowed Hugh in a very sensitive spot, causing him to fall to the ground in pain, "I'm not moving from this spot until I have a _Café con Leche_ in my hands…_VITE_!"

Hugh crawled away like an inchworm, growling at the pain in his crotch, '_Café con Leche?_' his thoughts went back to his Spanish tutor, 'Coffee with…milk.' "Because this is soooo worth it."

"You're right." The feminine voice rose out of nowhere and Hugh's head tilted skyward to see the source. "Little bro, you should know that absolutely _no one_ likes getting woken up to hear the pleas of a little boy."

"Helen? How'd you get in?"

"Phased through the wall…duh!" She pointed to the kitchen and shifted the cup in her hands, "Now if you really want her to listen, go make some waffles or something while I take Annie some _Café con Leche_."

Hugh sulked away as his sister strutted to the pile of cranky teen in a blanket, enjoying the thick espresso smell wafting from the cup. "Ah…"

"Coffee?" A muffled voice and a pair of puffy eyes appeared, then a head, and finally a pair of hands whisked away the cup. In two seconds, half the cup was gone and Annie was already sitting up happily, enjoying the aroma of her drink.

"My brother's a bit stupid sometimes, sorry."

"Not your fault." Annie gulped down the dregs and then groaned, "Oh man…I'm starving!"

Helen laughed and ruffled the younger girl's hair, "Well then, time for some breakfast, eh?"

* * *

An hour later, Annie sipped down the last of her OJ, staring through the bottom of the glass at Hugh's distorted face. "That's quite an ornate plan…and fragile things tend to break…"

"It's as good as it gets," he growled back.

Annie set down her glass with a sigh, "A little strange tale. Imagine if the scientific world knew that you two were the first clones! You'd be on the news and-"

"Every scientist would want to test our DNA…know who our mother was…figure out that our genes aren't human. No." Helen was the most reserved at the table, Hugh looked exhausted, he _had_ been up all night, and Annie was losing her espresso high, the nervous energy beginning to dissipate.

"Well when you put it that way…" The brunette sighed, "But yes. I'll help you with your plan, though I do have the feeling we'll need someone else…" she stared at the other two with a mischievous grin on her face. Hugh's eyes shot open as he realized who she was implying.

"No. No way. There is absolutely no way in hell that-"

* * *

"I'm doing this?"

Annie grinned as she rapped on the door to the small apartment, "Yes, since we now know that you're related…we can resolve this conflict; after all, you are his uncle!"

"I know!"

Helen was sitting on the railing of the porch, even though she had tried to resist her father's training, the hatred that the Masters family felt for the Fentons was legendary, even she was growling about this little excursion.

"It makes me feel really old…" she growled, "I shouldn't be an aunt!"

"Too bad!" Annie growled at the door, no one had answered yet, "Come on you-" she shut her eyes and swung at the door, but instead of a loud _THWAP!_ there was instead a _THUNK-DUNK!_ Cautiously, she opened her eyes. "Man…Hugh! Why didn't you warn me?"

"Because," the boy grinned at his unconscious rival now lying on the floor, "I don't like him."

"Poor kid…c'mon, lets get him inside."

"Jack! Please Jack, wake up!" Annie placed next to the couch where Helen had placed the unconscious boy, "Oh God, what did I do?"

"Don't feel bad," Hugh smirked, "Anyone would have done the same thing if they were in your place!"

"I know, but look at him, he's going to have a bump on his head the size of…er…a wheel of cheese!"

Hugh tried to speak again but instead just dissolved into tears of laughter, he rolled on the floor as Annie continued slapping the face of Jack, making red welts appear.

"O GOD! I'm such a clutz! WATER! Yes…cold water, that's it!"

Helen stared after the exuberant girl, then turned her attention back to the sleeping boy, his face looked so peaceful without any emotions, almost kind of…cute. She turned away, hiding her face from her brother.

At that moment, Annie returned; her hands held the handle of a coking pot filled to the brim with water with ice cubes floating about. "This should do the trick!" She tipped the pot slightly and a small trickle of water dripped onto Jack's face.

"Unnnh," The black-haired boy's eyes opened slightly, which would have been a good thing…had not the entire pot slipped out of Annie's hands and crashed onto his head, knocking the poor boy out with a cold splash.

Hugh continued rolling on the floor, his laughs turning into high-pitched giggles. Helen knocked him on the head, "Hey! Go get a mop you little turd!"

He rolled his eyes at his sister, "Fine," but never saw the blush return to her cheeks before she hid it away again.

* * *

YAY! It only took…oh I dunno, a month…I'm lazy as hell(durf), but hopefully, since I know how this is going to turn out now, I'll update more! Dedicated to Ms. Ballenger, for calling Amber a little turd…MOO! 


	20. Halloween

WHOOOO! I'm updating again, in um…3 days! Wow…I'm gunna suck on my Math Final…oh poo! But still, I should do better than I would have done month before…BEWARE HYPERBOLES! Heh. Yeah, so anyways this is chapter…20! Longest chapter EVER!

* * *

They had finally managed to revive Jack, only to have him be knocked out again, but after about ten minutes, he woke on his own, rubbing his head and wondering what two of his three arch-rivals were doing in his own apartment.

"Taking you to our father-NO! We need your help…to take down Plasmius and his final plot." Helen sighed, thinking over the formalities of the DNA she possessed, "But c'mon…don't you want to help out your poor old Auntie Helen?"

"Aunt!" Jack's eyes were wide as saucers now.

"And your Uncle Hugh," the other boy grinned maliciously, "What? Didn't you know that we're related?"

"Bu-! Wha-!" Jack leaned forwards and put his head on his knees, "If that's true, my family's lineage could be a soap opera!"

Annie shifted uncomfortably in her seat, remembering the times she had thought the same thing while watching her favorite TV show. "Are we telling him the plan?"

"Of course," Hugh growled, "That was the whole point of coming here, wasn't it?"

"I guess."

"Okay…so here it is! It all starts when…"

* * *

Thirty minutes later Jack stared in disbelief at the other three, "You've got to be kidding me…it'll never work!"

"Maybe," Helen sighed, "But we still have to try. If Dad's doing what I think he's doing, then we're screwed…big time."

Jack sighed, "_And_ we're related…wow…when I tell dad he'll-"

"NI! NON! NO! We're not going to tell your father just like we're not going to tell our father. Both of them are too deep in their own selfish pride to help!" Annie laughed at her own statement, then peered even closer at Jack's shirt, black with silver Japanese lettering on it. "What does that say? Your shirt?"

The others stared at it. "Dunno," Jack muttered, "I just thought it looked cool."

"Then it might amuse you to know…it means 'Delicious Mountain'."

"Sidetracking is not good!" Helen snorted, "Even if it's funny, we only have until-"

* * *

(Skip ahead about a month or two…)

* * *

"November fourteenth…" Celeste Fenton sighed into her pillow; Halloween would be in a couple hours, and it seemed that her dad had completely forgotten about the DALV meeting in Seattle. She groaned, "They always forget everything I tell them!"

The phone rang, and the teen picked up the portable receiver in her room. "Hello?"

"Celeste! You're coming out tonight, right? Trick-or-treating?"

"Yeah Jeanne, I've got a great 'Inviso-Bill' costume that Mom made for me."

"Wicked! I'll see you tonight! Ciao."

Celeste turned off the phone and set it down, "Thirteen days…"

* * *

The Dairy Mansion was bustling seeing as there were few remaining days until the meeting where all would be revealed. Vlad was watching over the progress with the smirk of an evil genius, which he was, and muttering about his plots that would soon be taking place.

"And then…when they're all terrified and quaking, I'll-!"

"Mr. Masters?" A doubtful looking Annie DuVale suddenly phased through the wall of his study, "The tickets to Seattle are all arranged, and the gear has been shipped to the hotel room."

"Very good."

"Mr. Masters?"

"Yes Annie?" Vlad's voice sounded tired, even…old?

"You wouldn't _possibly_ mind telling me what's going to happen?"

"No Annie," He stood and she could have sworn that something in his bones creaked, "You ask me every day, and I always say the same thing!" he clapped her on the back, "All will soon be clear! I should hope you figure it out before the final day though. Now leave me in peace, that's all an old halfa like me could ever ask for…"

With a sympathetic sigh, Annie phased back out of the room where Hugh was waiting, tapping his foot nervously, "Anything yet?"

"No…but he seems sad…" She sighed again, "Maybe you should talk to him! He is your father after all."

Hugh's face softened for a moment, his eyes glazed over for a second, and then the neutral face turned into a scowl, "I've had too many bad experiences, it'll take an apology from him to-"

At that exact moment, Vlad burst out of his office in giddy joy, pulling both Annie and Hugh into a tight, choking embrace. "Oh joy!" He released them to gasp for breath, "I have just gotten some splendid news! Oh Annie, you're a great assistant and Hugh, such a great son! What more could a multi-billionaire ask for!" He trotted off, a bounce in his step and humming a song.

"What the hell just happened?" Hugh muttered, one eyebrow twitching.

"Dunno, but it's three o'clock, time to practice!" Annie dropped through the floor below and then took off flying, making her way through the gigantic house and to the large gymnasium, where a small group of halfas had already gathered, Ian was among them, and Reynolds and Kenny, and there were still more that Annie didn't know too well, like Greg and Kona.

Ian stepped up, "Okay people, today we're going to be learning the half-whip. It's a relatively difficult move, but doesn't take a lot of energy. You shoot part of a plasma bolt," a blast extended from his wrist, "Grab it," now he held the blast of light like a saber, and then-" he brought his arm up fluidly and then quickly down with a snap.

The eight halfas spread out trying the move, Reynolds was having trouble holding onto the beam, of course, he had never really been able to do Ecto-sabers either. Kenny was already making two whips and snapping them quickly when they both exploded, and a sticky, purple liquid showered the class, immobilizing all parts with a gentle numbing.

"Ugh…Kenny!" Kona muttered with a yawn, the sticky stuff was putting her to sleep.

"Not my fault…you guys…" the one at fault hadn't escaped the goo at all, he looked like a butterfly that hadn't gotten out of its chrysalis yet. "Not…my…" he fell into sleep, and as if it was a cue, the others dropped to the ground, already caught up in their dreams.

* * *

Wow…yeah, so anyways, I'm trying to write like this is a Manga now, and one of my ears is screwy and I've got eoc's and the Karaoke party date has changed, and I NEED TO SELL TICKETS! AHHHH! Eyah, plz review 


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